In 1994, civil war broke out in Rwanda between the ruling Hutu tribe and the oppressed Tutsis. A million people were slaughtered while the world looked away. It's a huge subject for one film, leading director and co-writer Terry George (Some Mother's Son) to focus on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), the Hutu manager of the posh Milles Collines hotel. Paul saved 1,268 Tutsis from the genocide. In playing an ordinary man who finds a core of heroism he never knew he had, Cheadle looms like a colossus. Paul's efforts to protect his children and his Tutsi wife (the stirring Sophie Okonedo) soon extend to a broader family. George has been criticized for simplifying a complex story into an African Schindler's List. But despite flaws in execution, this is a film of rare courage and imperishable heart.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."