White King, Red Rubber, Black Death (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Peter Bate

Writer:

Peter Bate (writer)

Release Date:

2003 (Belgium)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Plot:

Documentary about how King Leopold II of Belgium acquired Congo as a colony and exploited it by reign of terror. |

Plot Keywords:

King Leopold II | Belgium | Terror | Congo | Court Of Law

Cast

Elie Lison
Roger May
Steve Driesen
Tshilombo Imhotep
Annette Kelly
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nick Fraser	...	Narrator

Also Known As:

Valkoinen kuningas, musta kuolema (Finland)

Runtime:

84 min | 52 min (short version) | UK:108 min (long version) | Finland:91 min

Country:

Belgium | Australia | Canada | Denmark | Finland | France | Germany | Netherlands | UK

Language:

Dutch | English | French

Color:

Black and White (archive material) | Color

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Belgium

Company:

Périscope Productions

A searing indictment, both then and now

I highly recommend this documentary to anyone wishing to know about the forgotten African Holocaust. While the reenactments are at times rather incongruous and it employs some rather 'dramatic' devices betraying an historians' oath to be 'sine ira et studio' (having the king sit impassive in a mocked-up dock), they in no way detract from the remarkable story of savagery and, in the case of Morel and Casement in particular, heroism. It is a visual companion to Hochschild's 'King Leopold's Ghost', although it provides additional information such as the fate of the chief who brought one hundred and eighty-two long twigs and seventy-six smaller ones to represent that number of adults and children murdered by the A.B.I.R. Company in his district which I had been unable to find anywhere else. It also offers a solid number of other historians from the Congo itself as well as Belgium and the United Kingdom. The epilogue relating to Leopold's posthumous victory is particularly striking. www.lairdkeir.spaces.live.com