by Pradip Biswas
This seminal paper on Patrice Lumumba is dedicated to my perpetual mentor Mrinal Sen, the Guerilla fighter of International Cinema
“History will one day have its say”.
Patrice Lumumba
Raoul Peck, the resonant voice of Haitian cinema, is the first ever filmmaker with a robust courage to showcase the atrocities of sub-African political reality through his films. It is indeed at Haiti that he was born and that he has created an indelible history by making a stirring film on Patrice Lumumba, the revolutionary figurehead of Cong. Called Lumumba: The Death of A Prophet, the feature-length documentary by Haitian director Raoul Peck, it is a film that must be seen. It is a brilliant and majestic work which documents the extraordinary contributions and self-sacrifice that the 1960's Congolese leader Patrice Emery Lumumba in attempting to safeguard the territorial integrity and tremendous wealth of the Congo against the greed and power plays of the United States of America, CIA and its allies. Incidentally, he was the Minister of Culture at Haiti during the shortest reign of Patrice Lumumba. The most significant thing is that 2011 completes just historic 50 years since the Communist father figure of Congo Patrice Emery Lumumba was murdered. This is the reminder year to celebrate and remember the undaunted Guerrilla fighter that Lumumba was.
Lumumba: The Death of A Prophet is the depiction of story, the gory and historic one, 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, Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of the “mail clerk and beer salesman” with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising faith in the capacity of his homeland to construct a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgium overlords. Congo , as time of history mirrors, was colonized by Belgian ruling clique. Patrice Lumumba in the context of political upheaval in Congo emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by the brutish commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States, the international community, and Lumumba's own administration. It narrates a fierce tale of political intrigue and murder where political entities, pirates of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political hegemony over Congo.
“History will one day have its say”.
Patrice Lumumba
Raoul Peck, the resonant voice of Haitian cinema, is the first ever filmmaker with a robust courage to showcase the atrocities of sub-African political reality through his films. It is indeed at Haiti that he was born and that he has created an indelible history by making a stirring film on Patrice Lumumba, the revolutionary figurehead of Cong. Called Lumumba: The Death of A Prophet, the feature-length documentary by Haitian director Raoul Peck, it is a film that must be seen. It is a brilliant and majestic work which documents the extraordinary contributions and self-sacrifice that the 1960's Congolese leader Patrice Emery Lumumba in attempting to safeguard the territorial integrity and tremendous wealth of the Congo against the greed and power plays of the United States of America, CIA and its allies. Incidentally, he was the Minister of Culture at Haiti during the shortest reign of Patrice Lumumba. The most significant thing is that 2011 completes just historic 50 years since the Communist father figure of Congo Patrice Emery Lumumba was murdered. This is the reminder year to celebrate and remember the undaunted Guerrilla fighter that Lumumba was.
Lumumba: The Death of A Prophet is the depiction of story, the gory and historic one, 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, Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of the “mail clerk and beer salesman” with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising faith in the capacity of his homeland to construct a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgium overlords. Congo , as time of history mirrors, was colonized by Belgian ruling clique. Patrice Lumumba in the context of political upheaval in Congo emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by the brutish commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States, the international community, and Lumumba's own administration. It narrates a fierce tale of political intrigue and murder where political entities, pirates of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political hegemony over Congo.
For the entire write up follow the link : http://www.thescape.in/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1981
No comments:
Post a Comment