Rating: 
Summary: Born fifty years too early - the life of Patrice Lumumba
Review: "Lumumba" is a masterful depiction of the politically rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba. The film is gripping in its portrayal of those in the political forefront of the newly independent nation of Congo, most notably Lumumba himself. The film's strength is its use of historically accurate factual analysis, which, incidentally, does not always glorify Lumumba. The viewer comes away from this film shaken to the core by the utter sense of humanity that the brilliance of Raoul Peck achieves in this vivid portrait of the fallen leader. This film is a "must see" for history buffs as well as for those who continue to seek examples of what moral leadership really looks like.
Rating: 
Summary: Charismatic leader self-sacrificed to an impossible mission
Review: A very well-made historical film with superb casting and acting. Leaves you with a bad feeling at the bottom of your stomach.[See Soren Dayton's comments.] The film covers the last 8 months of Lumumba's life, in 1960, beginning in prison, continuing with four months' freedom and ending in four month's internment, flight, torture and execution. It centers on the emotional aspects of life at the center of the storm. It shows but does not analyze. The Belgian Congo was constituted 80 years before through the most extensive use of barbarism then known in the European conquest of Africa. 80 years down the road, Congo's function as a state was primarily the extraction and shipping of mineral wealth and agricultural produce from Africa's richest region (the region drained by the Congo river), with the necessary modicum of services to the people doing the extraction and crop-raising, the blacks. Lumumba accepted the existence of the Congo state, and postulated a Congolese nation. The state only existed as a machine for exploiting the underground riches and the labor of the "nation", and the nation existed only as defined within that state. It had no common culture, no common language, no common tradition (except Bantu tradition generally) and especially no common structure save that defined by the Belgian-run state. The task Lumumba defined for himself was squaring the circle. The only way the Congo could be maintained as a state was as it had always existed, through massive violence and systematic inequality, and for the profit of the same class of profiteers as before. The Congo never had any other purpose. Lumumba believed in his impossible task in part because he felt responsible for, and in a sense shared, the enthusiasm his Licoln-like honesty and courage generated everywhere (in Europe as well as the Congo). In hindsight what followed, or some variant of it, was totally foreseeable, written in the structure of the state. It is interesting to see how Lumumba's honest friend, Mobutu, comes, one step at a time, to recognize this and to make his peace with it. The last scene, on the June-61 first anniversary of the country, focusses on Mobutu, who is physically the Mobutu we saw take these steps one at a time, but spiritually already the slave of the powers he made his pact with, and for which he will later take the other steps that made him in his time one of Africa's most nauseating dictators. If the machine left in place by the Belgians and the Western mining industry had not produced Mobutu, it would have produced a clone of him. Lumumba was a human sacrifice to African hopes the machine had no truck with. These hopes were worse than self-defeating the moment "the Congolese state and nation" was accepted as a fact.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, not just about Zaire/Congo. DVD quality moderate.
Review: Although it's quite likely that some artistic liberty has been taken with the facts, I viewed this with my "general state of affairs of colonialized African countries" goggles. In that regard, it's a gripping tale that shows some of the horrible footprints left behind by colonialism mixed with other pre-existing tribal aspects of the local societies, not to mention the Cold War. That indictment is what stood out when I watched it, and it's eye-opening for those who've not lived in Africa. Since this is a review of the DVD, and not just the movie, my only disappointment is that those of us with HDTV/widescreen capable TVs/projectors will notice the poor quality of this DVD. I watched Lumumba for the first time at a film festival a couple of years ago, and was looking forward to having a good quality copy on DVD. Unfortunately, it's been *letterboxed* to shrink the widescreen format into a 4:3 frame. I wish they had used a true anamorphic widescreen transfer that would make fuller use of a 16:9 aspect ratio/resolution. In that sense the cover text "luminous new widescreen transfer" is misleading. At least the Special Edition is subtitled, and not dubbed or censored (from what I've read of the other version), so that's one plus for this specific edition of the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, not just about Zaire/Congo. DVD quality moderate.
Review: Although it's quite likely that some artistic liberty has been taken with the facts, I viewed this with my "general state of affairs of colonialized African countries" goggles. In that regard, it's a gripping tale that shows some of the horrible footprints left behind by colonialism mixed with other pre-existing tribal aspects of the local societies, not to mention the Cold War. That indictment is what stood out when I watched it, and it's eye-opening for those who've not lived in Africa. Since this is a review of the DVD, and not just the movie, my only disappointment is that those of us with HDTV/widescreen capable TVs/projectors will notice the poor quality of this DVD. I watched Lumumba for the first time at a film festival a couple of years ago, and was looking forward to having a good quality copy on DVD. Unfortunately, it's been *letterboxed* to shrink the widescreen format into a 4:3 frame. I wish they had used a true anamorphic widescreen transfer that would make fuller use of a 16:9 aspect ratio/resolution. In that sense the cover text "luminous new widescreen transfer" is misleading. At least the Special Edition is subtitled, and not dubbed or censored (from what I've read of the other version), so that's one plus for this specific edition of the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: necessary viewing
Review: As an American, I was horrified at US government actions against a leader as inspiring and hopeful as Lumumba. The story is superbly told. Every person in my row at the theater, from white, middle-aged men to young, African American women, were in tears. Show this movie to American high school students so they can understand fully what 'spreading democracy' can mean in a modern world.
Rating: 
Summary: Get the subtitled Special Edition version
Review: First off, Lumumba is an exciting, dramatic film that I recommend very highly.
However, this version of the DVD in addition to being dubbed into English, is censored in at least one place. Toward the end, at a moment crucial to a historical understanding of the role of other countries (including the U.S.) in sealing Lumumba's fate, the name of the United States official is actually beeped out on the soundtrack. Why? Did it have something to do with this being the version aired on HBO?
Of course, it's possible that there are other instances of censorship on this DVD that I'm unaware of.
I'd recommend getting the subtitled Special Edition. The price isn't THAT much more and it has some good special features that make the higher price worth it.
Rating:
Summary: "We thought we controlled our destiny."
Review: Haitian director, Raoul Peck's film "Lumumba" charts the life of revolutionary Patrice Lumumba from the time he first steps into politics in the Belgium-ruled colony of Congo until his untimely death in January 1961 at the age of 35. Lumumba's story is startling. He served as the first elected prime minister in the newly independent Congo for a period of two short months before he was murdered.
The story of Lumumba's early political career is extremely weak. It's unclear how and why he entered politics or why, within a few scenes, he is rousted from home and thrown in prison where he rots for 6 months. The film covers some obviously strategic political moments (Lumumba's speech) but there are huge gaps--especially when concerning Lumumba's early political involvement. After the elections, it's also unclear what devious schemes are going on behind Lumumba's back. The country is in chaos, and Lumumba cannot control it, but the film fails to address Lumumba's politics in a meaningful way. And this is more than unfortunate as events, responsibility, etc. remain rather muddy.
About half way through the film, the Russians and the CIA begin meddling in Congo's affairs. The story becomes very interesting, and suddenly the details of exactly who opposes who are not so important anymore. Apparently, the director's cut for this film was 3 hours. My DVD version was 115 minutes. In the final analysis, it's very unfortunate that scenes of the wife hanging out laundry, and the child posing for photos were included in the film while much more relevant (and clarifying details) were ignored. In 1992, Raoul Peck made the documentary film: "Lumumba: Death of a Prophet." Given the scope and complexity of Lumumba's story, the pure documentary film is probably the better approach. "Lumumba", in French with English subtitles, offered fine acting, and splendid sets, but was too thin on the substance--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: A part of African history everyone should know about
Review: I enjoyed this movie very much. Accoring to most available literature, this movie is historically accurate. Peck is a well respected director and seems to have done a good job presenting the truth. Lumumba is an icon in African history and he represents the hope and optimism of post-colonial Africa. His death was a tragedy and it leads us to wonder "What if...". This is an important chapter in modern African history and we are lucky that such a well-made movie has helped tell this story to the world.
PS. Frank Carlucci's (the second secretary in the U.S. embassy in Kinshasa at the time) name is bleeped out in some versions because his lawyers pressured the film's distributors to remove all reference to him. He of course denies involvement in the assassination of Lumumba. Peck has stated that he has strong reason to believe his movie to be accurate.
Rating:
Summary: a moment to pause
Review: I highly recommend seeing this movie. I read the NY Review of Books' article on Lumumba first, which gives a good sense of the historical forces. The former UN Undersecretary however is unrelenting as far as Lumumba is concerned, painting Lumumba almost as a psychotic unrelenting fanatic. It appears the Undersecretary's bias stems from his frustration felt by many UN leaders at the time in dealing with a distrusting world leader (ie., Lumumba) wanting to play on his own terms. Peck on the other hand shows Lumumba's idealism, integrity, fears, and demand for equal recognition clashing with the designs of the West and the riotous factions within his own country. The movie is much more sympathetic and realistic in portraying what Lumumba was up against. The audience really feels and relates to Lumumba in a way that is not at all schmaltzy. I highly recommend this film.
Rating:
Summary: Important subject matter, a bit hard to follow
Review: I would recommend this film, but couched in the warning that I found it a bit hard to follow. There are a lot of characters - the various political figures - and sometimes it's hard to keep them all straight. It's definitely important subject matter though - an interesting glimpse into the colonial forces that shaped modern Africa and the struggles that continue today in many of its troubled nations.
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