Lumumba (2001)

Synopsis: LUMUMBA is a gripping political thriller which tells the story of the legendary African leader Patrice Emery Lumumba. Called "the Elvis Presley of African politics," and "the politico of the bush"... LUMUMBA is a gripping political thriller which tells the story of the legendary African leader Patrice Emery Lumumba. Called "the Elvis Presley of African politics," and "the politico of the bush" by journalists of his day, the brilliant and charismatic Lumumba rose rapidly to the office of Prime Minister when Belgium conceded the Congo's independence in June 1960.

Lumumba's vision of a united Africa gained him powerful enemies: the Belgian authorities, who wanted a much more paternal role in their former colony's affairs; and the CIA, who supported Lumumba's former friend Joseph Mobutu in order to protect U. S. business interests in Congo's vast resources and their upper hand in the Cold War power balance. The architects behind Lumumba's brutal death in 1961, a mere nine months after becoming the country's first prime minister, recently became known and are accurately dramatized in fictional form for the first time in LUMUMBA.

Shot in Zimbabwe and Belgium as civil war raged in Lumumba's birthplace, LUMUMBA recreates the shocking events behind the birth of the country that became Zaire and is now known again as Congo. The recent assassination of Congolese president Laurent Kabila refocused the world's attention on the area's bloody history, civil wars and economic decline. [More]

Starring: Eriq Ebouaney, Alex Descas, Maka Kotto, Théophile Moussa Sowié

Starring: Eriq Ebouaney, Alex Descas, Maka Kotto, Théophile Moussa Sowié, Dieudonné Kabongo Bashila, Pascal Nzonzi, André Debaar, Cheik Doukouré, Oumar Diop Makena, Mariam Kaba, Rudi Delhem

Director: Raoul Peck

Director: Raoul Peck
Screenwriter: Raoul Peck, Pascal Bonitzer
Composer: Jean-Claude Petit
Studio: Zeitgeist Films

[See More Credits]