The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Using newly discovered historical evidence, Haitian-born and later Congo-raised writer and director Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of the mail clerk and beer salesman with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising belief in the capacity of his homeland to build a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgian overlords. Lumumba emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States, the international community, and Lumumba's own administration; a true story of political intrigue and murder where political entities, captains of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political hegemony.
- Genre: Drama, History
- Studio: JBA Production, RTBF, Entre Chien et Loup, Essential Filmproduktion, ARTE France Cinéma, Velvet Film, ZDF/Arte, Canal+, VRT, Cofimage 10, Eurimages, CNC, Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique, Fondation GAN pour le Cinéma, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Cirta Films
- Keyword: congo, democratic republic of the congo
- Cast: Ériq Ebouaney, Alex Descas, Théophile Sowié, Maka Kotto, Dieudonné Kabongo, Pascal N'Zonzi
