Lumumba and our inability to learn from the past
On Lumumba (the film):
Lumumba gives us different perspective from ones created in places like Brussels, Paris and Washington D.C., and I think this is one of the biggest achievements that the film made.
Lumumba is based on the true story of Patrice Lumumba. He was the visionary, and he understood where Congo was back in 1960. He understood number of problems that the country had, and also number of problems that the world had back then (most of which have not been resolved to this day). He can be viewed in a number of ways, but he was only trying to serve his country. Though he can be viewed as an enemy to western countries, he was only asking what his country deserves. When history is told, we typically just hear perspectives of Brussels, Paris and Washington D.C. They are not always wrong, but they are just taking their side most of the time. The film captures this simple fact.
The film never got as much attention as other films that look at Africa like Hotel Rwanda. There are number of reasons why, but I think one of reasons is that we simply have not learned from the past and that most of us don't understand the core message of Lumumba (the film). They also completely disconnect Lumumba from the current state of the world. They cannot see what the core message of the film says about Iraq and Afghanistan. It's too bad; there is a fantastic film like Lumumba, yet most people are not even capable of understanding what the film is about.
Compare Lumumba (the film) to Hotel Rwanda:
I wrote that Hotel Rwanda is good but not great a couple of months ago. Lumumba really confirms why Hotel Rwanda is not great. Hotel Rwanda does not show number of problems that Rwanda had correctly. Hotel Rwanda also focuses on sentimental story from the perspective of Washington D.C. The story is really about Hotel Rwanda (the hotel), but the film should have shown underlining (political, cultural and economical) problems far more accurately. Also it wasn't really educational to view Hotel Rwanda (the event) from the perspective of Washington D.C. Lumumba really has depth by comparison.
Lumumba gives us different perspective from ones created in places like Brussels, Paris and Washington D.C., and I think this is one of the biggest achievements that the film made.
Lumumba is based on the true story of Patrice Lumumba. He was the visionary, and he understood where Congo was back in 1960. He understood number of problems that the country had, and also number of problems that the world had back then (most of which have not been resolved to this day). He can be viewed in a number of ways, but he was only trying to serve his country. Though he can be viewed as an enemy to western countries, he was only asking what his country deserves. When history is told, we typically just hear perspectives of Brussels, Paris and Washington D.C. They are not always wrong, but they are just taking their side most of the time. The film captures this simple fact.
The film never got as much attention as other films that look at Africa like Hotel Rwanda. There are number of reasons why, but I think one of reasons is that we simply have not learned from the past and that most of us don't understand the core message of Lumumba (the film). They also completely disconnect Lumumba from the current state of the world. They cannot see what the core message of the film says about Iraq and Afghanistan. It's too bad; there is a fantastic film like Lumumba, yet most people are not even capable of understanding what the film is about.
Compare Lumumba (the film) to Hotel Rwanda:
I wrote that Hotel Rwanda is good but not great a couple of months ago. Lumumba really confirms why Hotel Rwanda is not great. Hotel Rwanda does not show number of problems that Rwanda had correctly. Hotel Rwanda also focuses on sentimental story from the perspective of Washington D.C. The story is really about Hotel Rwanda (the hotel), but the film should have shown underlining (political, cultural and economical) problems far more accurately. Also it wasn't really educational to view Hotel Rwanda (the event) from the perspective of Washington D.C. Lumumba really has depth by comparison.
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