Lumumba

Political thriller about Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister after Congo gained its independence. This epos looks back at his life, from his simple roots, his rise as a politician to his violent death in 1961. Lumumba was loved by the people but had powerful enemies in Belgium and the United States. Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) sketches a portrait of a man who tries to cling onto his ideals and has to pay for this with his life, told from a personal perspective, but based on facts. Lumumba’s heritage still lives on among many Africans.

Peck spent part of his youth in the Congo. He had previously made the documentary Lumumba: La mort du prophète in 1990. In the period between the two films, important new information emerged, for instance through research by the writer Ludo De Witte. His book led to a Belgian parliamentary inquiry into the murder of Lumumba. This took place in the same year as the film was released.