IMDb > Lumumba (2000)
Lumumba
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Lumumba (2000) -- The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo...

Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   854 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 37% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Raoul Peck
Writers:
Pascal Bonitzer (writer)
Dan Edelstein (English dubbed version)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Lumumba on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
27 September 2000 (Belgium) more
Genre:
Biography | Drama | History | War more
Plot:
The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo... more | add synopsis
Awards:
4 wins & 6 nominations more
User Comments:
absorbing dramatization more (26 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Eriq Ebouaney ... Patrice Émery Lumumba
Alex Descas ... Joseph Mobutu
Théophile Sowié ... Maurice Mpolo (as Théophile Moussa Sowie)
Maka Kotto ... Joseph Kasa Vubu
Dieudonné Kabongo ... Godefroid Munungo
Pascal N'Zonzi ... Moïse Tshombe
André Debaar ... Walter J. Ganshof Van der Meersch
Cheik Doukouré ... Joseph Okito
Makena Diop ... Thomas Kanza (as Oumar Diop Makena)
Mariam Kaba ... Pauline Lumumba
Rudi Delhem ... Général Emile Janssens
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Francis Adam ... Le maître d'hôtel
Alain Bouillé ... Le pilote du Dakota
Mata Gabin ... Helene Bijou
Edgar Henri Mato ... Un ministre
Den Thatcher ... Frank Carlucci
Paul Tingay
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Lumumba, retour au Congo (France) (working title)
more
Runtime:
115 min | Argentina:120 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)
Language:
French | Lingala
Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Sound Mix:
Dolby SR
Filming Locations:
Belgium more
Company:
Arte more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Raoul Peck had already made a film about Lumumba in 1992: "Lumumba, la mort du prophète", but it was a documentary. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Patrice Émery Lumumba: [voice over narration] You never knew about that night in Katanga. No one was to know.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Cinemania (2002) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful.
absorbing dramatization, 9 May 2004
Author: widescreenguy from London Canada

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.

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