Lumumba (2000)

How sad is this?

Good concept, poorly executed.

A different way of telling a story

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This movie was intended to explore the powers that resisted and ultimately ended Lumumba's political movement in the Congo with historical accuracy. Although it goes to great lengths to meet that end, it falls horribly short in two major ways. One, the CIA is mentioned just one time. Two, JFK is portrayed as though he authorized Mubutu's "offer" of a military takeover. This is despite the fact that Lumumba was killed three days before JFK became president! With the information now available (read JFK: Ordeal in Africa by Richard Mahoney), there is no doubt that the Dulles brothers using the CIA were chiefly responsible for Lumumba's assassination. Kennedy was heartbroken by the news and understood and advocated for a united Congo much like Lumumba did, opposing Eisenhower and the CIA. Not to mention the Belgians and British. Although one could argue these points do not have a major impact on the movie, they are critical to understanding not just the Congo during that period, but the intense internal conflict in the United States between large interests (Wall Street represented by CIA) and JFK's vision for the world (third world independence and development, anti-imperialism).

I was a pre-teen when news of Lumumba's assassination hit the news so I very vaguely recall at the time it was sad a leader who tried to shuck the reigns of colonialization was killed for efforts towards independence.There is woefully insufficient time in a 2 hour movie to completely explain the whos whys and wherefores of a political assassination. Suffice to say the victors write the history and even if the truth were portrayed adequately, who's truth would it be? As the character Lumumba says in the movie, he came 50 years too early.I found the story fast paced with good production values. It mirrored the all too brief time in power for a promising African leader, and there is a dearth of them lately. That continent still suffers a vacuum in its leadership, a state that will take another century to rectify. The film and life of Lumumba is a lesson of how badly things can go wrong in a climate of conflicting objectives and numerous parties and forces acting in a volatile setting. Congo had just gained independence and tribal rivalry reared its head very quickly. It is suggested for example that Lumumba seek sanctuary in the province of Katanga, where months before he had been refused landing rights in a flight to visit the troubled area. Politics makes strange bedfellows.The time of the 1960s was the height of the cold war and Lumumba's courting of Soviet aid to fast track his country did not win any favours. No doubt the superpower USA had at least some hand in his death, much the same as Ngo Dhin Diem in Vietnam around the same time. Attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro at that time are also well documented so it may be some measure of just desserts that Kennedy met his end with an assassin's bullet.Read up on that period of history then watch the movie to get additional value for the time you invest, and then you will be prepared to better understand contemporary events in far off places when national interests are at stake. Oil, diamonds, bauxite, coffee, whatever; liberty always seems to take a back seat when these interests get the ear of the powers that be.Realism in the film is reinforced with the french dialog. I also understood the subtleties having studied military coups in university under a black professor who came from Nigeria.

This is a pretty good film about the rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba, first Prime Minister of what was formerly the Belgian Congo. It was done on a small budget and lacks certain production values but it was well presented and the acting sufficient to tell the story.Many people have complained in other reviews about the angle from which it was directed and whether the story is accurate or not. I'm not an expert on Congolese history, so cannot offer an opinion on that score, but it's obviously a complex situation and not easily covered in a two hour film.The Belgian Congo was an important battleground in the Cold War right around the time of the transition to the Kennedy administration, and no doubt the United States had a hand in Lumumba's execution. He was, after all, a nationalist outside of the American sphere of control and was flirting with the Russians (much as Fidel Castro was doing across the Atlantic in Cuba).But there is much more to the story. Prime Minister Lumumba wanted to unite the Congo and control it with a central government, but there were regional powers and economic forces working against him. I suppose anyone trying to do what Lumumba was aiming to do would have been at risk at that time and place. Even now, over four decades later, with Mobutu Seko gone, there is much civil strife and no one has united the country.Raoul Peck, a Haitian who has lived in Zaire, does a fair job of directing this story. He presents Lumumba in a heroic light but also shows the flaws in his leadership. His life isn't overly dramatized like what Spike Lee did to Malcolm X, and, thankfully, he didn't take the Oliver Stone approach and make it into a big international conspiracy. It's history lite, but seeing as how this is a subject not covered very often, it's valuable nonetheless.

Wow. What a fabulous film. The artists are to be congratulated and thanked for making this whole era come to life.Should you go to this movie? Well, my wife didn't want to go because she guessed that it would be upsetting. She was correct: It IS deeply upsetting to see cruelty, treachery, panic, wobbly social institutions, etc.On the other hand, there's nothing like a strong dose of the truth. I don't know enough Congolese history to have an opinion on the accuracy of this tale, but the movie certainly had an emotional truth to it. In fact, it reminded me of something Meryl Streep once said. She mentioned that the purpose of a movie is to tell you what it felt like to be there -- wherever "there" might happen to be. By that standard, this movie succeeded. The film showed me -- a white guy from an American suburb -- what it means to have guts and commitment to high ideals during the most chaotic of times.If that sounds intriguing to you, go see "Lumumba"!