Lumumba is a 2000 film directed by Raoul Peck about the months before and after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960. Eriq Ebouaney stars as Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Congo, whose tenure in office lasted two months until he was driven from office. Maka Kotto, now a Canadian politician, plays Joseph Kasa Vubu, the first president of the country, and Alex Descas plays Joseph Mobutu, who seized power with, the film implies, the help of the United States. The film is directed by Raoul Peck and is a coproduction of France, Belgium, Germany, and Haiti. Due to political unrest in the DRC at the time of filming, the movie was shot in Zimbabwe and Beira, Mozambique. The film premiered at the Cannes Festival on May 14, 2000, and played various film festivals as well as having commercial releases in Belgium, France, Switzerland, the United States, and Canada. The film grossed $684,000 in the United States.[1] It also aired on HBO.[2]
Controversy
The film generated some controversy in 2002 when Frank Carlucci, a former American government official and policy advisor, persuaded HBO to delete a reference to him during the airing of the film. The scene in question involves a group of Belgian and Congolese officials deciding whether to kill Lumumba. Carlucci is asked for input, and he mumbles that the US government does not involve itself in the internal affairs of other countries. At the time, Carlucci was the second secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Congo. He denies playing any role in the death of Lumumba, saying "The scene is tendentious, false, libelous; it never happened and it is a cheap shot." According to one source, the scene was deleted from the version of the film that aired on HBO.[3] Another source says that the scene was not deleted but the word "Carlucci" was bleeped in the dialogue and the name masked in the credits.[4]
References
- ^ http://imdb.com/title/tt0246765/business
- ^ http://www.hbo.com/films/lumumba/index.html
- ^ Shorrock, Tim. "Company Man", The Nation, 2002-03-14. Retrieved on 2006-08-26.
- ^ Laurier, Joanne (2002-03-15). "Carlucci" bleeped from HBO version of Lumumba. World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved on 2006-08-26.
