LUMUMBA TELLS THE TRUE STORY ABOUT CONGELESE INDEPENDENCE
On June 30, 1960, King Leopold II of Belgium granted independence to the Congo (Zaïre from 1971), and Patrice Lumumba was named Prime Minister. Two months later Lumumba was out of power. Western news accounts identify Lumumba as a reckless pro-Soviet leader, but the truth has a way of coming out. Ten years in the making, director Raoul Peck has now brought new facts to light in the powerful biopic Lumumba. The film focuses on how Lumumba (played by Eriq Ebouaney) gave up a job in one of the provinces to sell beer in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), the capital of the Belgian Congo, while agitating for independence. For his efforts, colonial authorities imprison him, where he is brutalized until independence talks are convened in Bruxelles. Much of the story then focuses on the duplicity of Belgian authorities, who wanted to quit the country due to independence agitation but maintain control of the military force and the mineral-rich Katanga province. (There is even a subtext about polished if perfidious French-speaking Belgians, the Walloons, and the nasty Flemish.) Although Lumumba tries to form a unity government, with Joseph Kasavubu (played by Maka Kotto) as president, several provincial leaders refuse to go along, notably Katanga leader Moise Tshombe (played by Pascal Nzonzi). In addition, the Belgian Force Publique, commanded and manned by Europeans, so overreact to lawlessness by anti-European troublemakers that law and order breaks down, whereupon Belgium wants to intervene and take control again. Accordingly, Prime Minister Lumumba replaces the Belgian commander with Mobutu. But the latter claims that he cannot stop human rights violations by his troops, further embarrassing Lumumba. Since more weapons are needed to stop the disorder, Lumumba toys with the idea of getting supplied by the Russians. The Americans then step in. According to the film, President Kennedy’s envoy Frank Carlucci (played by Charles Thatcher) makes a deal with Mobutu (played by Alex Descas) to undermine Lumumba, and in January 1961 the latter is executed by a firing squad in a remote locationl and Mobutu’s star began to rise. Thus, Cold War-oriented Washington is implicated in Mobutu’s brutal rule spanning about three decades. Stirring verbatim texts of Lumumba’s speeches and his efforts to overcome Congelese disunity so pepper the film that Lumumba emerges as a posthumous hero. (The fact that the UN investigated Lumumba’s death and then intervened in the Congo to put down the secession of Katanga and Kasai provinces comes after the time period of the film.) The opening of Lumumba in Beverly Hills on July 20 was preceded by screenings in Africa (but not Zaïre so far) and Europe. In each case, according to Peck, audiences have received the film as a paradigm of how conflicts involving their countries were handled during the Cold War. Accordingly, the Political Film Society has nominated Lumumba for awards as best 2001 film on democracy, human rights, and peace as well as best political film exposé. MH
THUMBS UP FOR GREENFINGERS
The English are inveterate gardeners, proud of turning adverse soil into lush and manicured panoramas of color. Based on a true story, Greenfingers focuses on Colin Briggs (played by Clive Owen), who has spent most of his life in prison for petty vandalism. One day he is transferred to Edgefield, a prison without walls, under the compassionate supervision of Governor Hodge (played by Warren Clarke). Every inmate must perform work so that he will have job experience upon release. Indifferent to the new surroundings, he refuses to volunteer for any assignment, despite friendly advice from his roommate Fergus Wilks (played by David Kelly). Accordingly, Hodge assigns him to building maintenance, the least desirable option. At Christmas, Wilks gives Briggs a seed packet. Briggs plants the seeds in a space protected by several trees, and in the spring lovely flowers emerge. One day, a soccer ball hits the flowers, to Briggs’s chagrin. When he expresses displeasure, the inmate stomps on the flowers, occasioning a scuffle. However, Hodge now realizes that Briggs has ambitions of being a gardener, so he is reassigned to the job along with his soccer-playing friends. In due course, the grounds at Edgefield are transformed miraculously into a beautiful garden, a fact that comes to the attention of Georgina Woodhouse (played by Helen Mirren), the author of many books on gardening and narrator of the television show on the annual Hampton Court gardening competition. She promises them a chance to exhibit at the next competition, while her daughter Primrose (played by Natasha Little) falls in love with Briggs. On Georgina’s recommendation, two male lovers hire the inmates to create a garden for them, but when one is falsely accused of stealing a priceless work of art, he escapes, and the chance for the Hampton Court exhibition is canceled. Briggs is paroled, but commits the same crime to return to Edgefield so that he can resume gardening. The following year, the inmates are allowed to exhibit at Hampton Court. When they do not win a prize, they are disappointed, as is Hodge. Summoned by the queen, who believes that they were robbed of the top honors, the film ends as they are escorted into Hampton Court Palace and titles tell us that subsequently prison inmates won many awards in gardening competitions. Interestingly, before the screening, I had a discussion with a person in the row in front of me about the death penalty. I disagreed as she opined that murderers should be executed, using eye-for-an-eye logic, believing that their lives served no useful purpose after they were convicted. The movie that we were about to see, I then indicated, might have something on the subject. Indeed, she was nonplused by the message of the film. Directed by Joel Hershman, the Political Film Society has nominated Greenfingers for best film exposé and best film on human rights. MH