Lumumba (2000)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Raoul Peck

Writers:

Pascal Bonitzer (writer)
Dan Edelstein (English dubbed version)

Release Date:

27 September 2000 (Belgium)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | War

Plot:

The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo...

Plot Keywords:

Belgium | Assassination | Patrice Lumumba | Intrigue | Military

Awards:

4 wins & 6 nominations

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

Also Known As:

Lumumba, retour au Congo (France) (working title)

Runtime:

115 min | Argentina:120 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

France | Belgium | Germany | Haiti

Language:

French | Lingala

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

South Africa:13V | New Zealand:M | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | France:U | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Company:

Arte

Trivia:

Raoul Peck had already made a film about Lumumba in 1992: "Lumumba, la mort du prophète", but it was a documentary.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cinemania (2002)

Censorship in TV version fo this film, but only in US?

I just saw this movie last night, 2/21/02, on HBO TV in New York and noticed a fascinating and rare bit of censorship within it. In one late scene in the movie when Congo politicians and 1-2 Americans meet around table and vote whether Lumumba is to be captured/killed, the apparent American, perhaps a CIA officer, is addressed by Gen. Mobutu and asked how he wants to vote. But the American's name uttered by Mobutu is bleeped out in the televised version I saw and heard. Then in the film's final credits, this same character's name is masked over and appears only as "Mr......" played by actor Dennis Thatcher. So what IS the name of the mysterious man, no doubt too accurately identified, in this movie, airing on American TV some 2 years after it was made.