A rash of new books, documentaries and general theories about the rise and fall of Lumumba have been hitting the stands in the past few years, giving further insights into how he was assassinated and at whose behest. Haitian-born director Raoul Peck's new feature film, Lumumba, has just joined the pack. It sets the stage for the tale that is to unfold, reminding us, most importantly, that Lumumba held office as prime minister for a mere two months before his abduction and ultimate assassination, when he was still only 36 years old. But the film falls into the Hollywood trap, painting the characters in broad brush strokes, rather than giving them inner depth. Thus Lumumba is portrayed as a tall, handsome, strapping baritone of a chap, a two-dimensional Superman of impeccable moral standing.
Peck hints at a white hand playing a critical role at the edge of the frame.
But if you have seen Belgian film-maker Thierry Michel's Mobutu, Roi du Zaire, and indeed some earlier documentary films about the inheritance of King Leopold's disastrous Central African plantation, this version becomes somewhat coy. The naked intervention of the Belgian, French and American governments, particularly through the medium of the CIA, has been so thoroughly exposed to the light of day in recent years as to give definitive credence to the conspiracy theories of the Cold War years. Tshombe, Kasavubu and Mobutu, like Savimbi, Bokassa, Amin and others closer to home, all started their careers as puppets in someone else's charade. The fact that they were later able to produce such genocidal outcomes in their own right does not alter that reality. Asked about the accuracy of his scenarios and the wordy dialogues that unfold through them, Peck says that his film is an authentic interpretation of events because he had access to so many vivid recollections of some of the surviving players in the real-life drama.