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LUMUMBA
TELLS THE TRUE STORY ABOUT CONGO'S 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 Brussels. 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 location, 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
Congolese 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
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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
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