Lumumba. 2001. France/Belgium/Haiti/Germany. Directed by Raoul Peck. Screenplay by Peck, Pascal Bonitzer. With Eriq Ebouaney, Alex Descas, Maka Kotto. In French and Lingala; English subtitles. 115 min.
“Even dead, I was still a threat to them.” Following over 50 years of brutal Belgian colonization, 36-year-old Patrice Lumumba became the first prime minister of the newly independent Congo in 1960. He was assassinated in 1961. Raoul Peck’s (I Am Not Your Negro) deliberate, arresting political thriller continues the director’s investigation of Lumumba’s life and legacy, following his 1990 documentary Lumumba, la mort d'un prophète (Lumumba: The Death of a Prophet). Lumumba is a stunning—and tragic—tribute to one man’s relentless resolve to decolonize his nation and better it for the next generation, while navigating Cold War–era geopolitical labyrinths.