LUMUMBA (2001)  **

Reviewed 8/16/01

LUMUMBA is named after its protagonist, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo after its independence from Belgium in 1960.  He was murdered only months after he obtained office, and as the film starts off with his death, that is no spoiler for the history-impaired (like me).  The movie rushes through his early life in the beer industry until we get to his political activities for the independence movement.

LUMUMBA is the kind of film you want to like.  It deals with an important and often overlooked subject, that of European colonialism in Africa.  It’s also about the interesting life of a martyr for a righteous cause who is infrequently discussed.  But it comes off like a Stanley Kramer movie.  Kramer was an earnest director of great liberal causes.  His films were also naïve, preachy, and heavy handed.  LUMUMBA is more cynical and darker than any Kramer movie, but it is essentially a ponderous polemic about the evils of colonialism and the racism of the West.

Colonialism was evil and Europe and the United States was and is racist in its treatment of African colonies/nations.   But just because you are on the right side of the argument does not mean you treat the subject with the nuance of a sledgehammer.   The movie starts off with a montage intercutting rich whites with impoverished blacks, then we see white men sawing up and disposing of black corpses.  Soldiers arrest and beat Lumumba while a radio airs a Belgian official talking about democratic rule.   Lumumba’s black Congan rivals who edge the country toward civil war barely appear, while the film puts its emphasis on the dastardly deeds of Belgian and American conspiracies to bring Lumumba down.

The music never lets you forget how you should feel in a scene.  The uplifting choir parts are always reserved for Lumumba himself.  Lumumba is shown to be a good family man and affectionate father to his daughter.   By the time the movie is over, he is apparently the only virtuous man in Congo.

The film depicts the Belgians as self-righteous in the belief that they brought civilized society to Congo, but director Raoul Peck is no less self-righteous in his literal black and white portrayal of the country’s history.  The film preaches to the converted and makes them feel good about themselves that they are on the right side.   Except for showing atrocities performed by the undisciplined Congan army on civilians, LUMUMBA does not bring complexity or understanding to history, only contempt for those on the other side.

There is a line in the movie that goes something like “This is a story that will not be told through Brussels, Paris, or Washington, but through the people of Congo.”  Ironically, the movie is financed partly through Brussels and Paris.

The best thing about LUMUMBA is Eriq Ebouaney, who plays Lumumba, but no one in the cast is less than memorable.