Lumumba
Lumumba is a 2000 biographical film directed by Raoul Peck. A co-production of France, Germany, Belgium, and Haiti filmed in French, the film depicts the rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba, and is set in the months before and after Congo-Léopoldville achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960. Political unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the time of filming caused the film to be shot in Zimbabwe and Beira, Mozambique. The film received positive reviews from critics, and won awards from the American Black Film Festival, the Political Film Society, and the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou.
Plot
The film begins with a montage of Lumumba and his compatriots Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo being driven to their executions, cutting to their bodies being exhumed, dismembered, and burned on the orders of Mobutu Sese Seko. Lumumba narrates his final letter to his wife in these introductory scenes. The film then jumps back to the late 1950s as Lumumba has a debate with Moïse Tshombe and Godefroid Munongo, rival politicians from the ethnically-nationalist pro-Western CONAKAT party. Lumumba expresses his Pan-Africanist ideals, expressed at a recent summit in Accra, Ghana, which infuriate Tshombe and Munongo.
More details
author | Pascal Bonitzer |
---|---|
contentLocation | Belgium |
director | Raoul Peck |
editor | Jacques Comets |
events | Cold War |
genre | drama historical political |
keywords | abako arrest baudouin of belgium brussels cast conakat congo crisis create cut émile janssens end fight first time force publique godefroid munongo hear house arrest joseph kasa-vubu joseph okito maurice mpolo meet military camp mobutu sese seko moise tshombe mouvement national congolais nato pan-africanism pan-africanist prime minister public speaking remember river soviet union speak state of katanga the king tribal warfare united nations want |
musicBy | Jean-Claude Petit |
producer | Jacques Bidou Raoul Peck |
recordedAt | Zimbabwe |
theme | biographical black war |