Lumumba: The Death of a Prophet

Set in the months before and after the Congo declared its independence from Belgium, this intensely gripping film by Haitian director Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) depicts the life of the extraordinary Pan-Africanist and anti-imperialist African leader, and first Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba-–from a personal perspective, as Peck spent his childhood there. A lightning rod amidst the Cold War era politics, his vision of a united Africa gained him powerful enemies in Belgium and the US, who colluded in his assassination. This new restoration—strikingly photographed in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Belgium as civil war raged in the Congo—mixes Peck’s reflections and home movies with archival footage and vivid re-creations of the shocking events that led to the birth of a country.