Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
55
Christmas Carol, A
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
33
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
xx
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
43
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
xx
WolfMan, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
46
44 Inch Chest
83
Ajami![]()
73
Amreeka
xx
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
84
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
48
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
68
Departures
62
District 13: Ultimatum
85
Education, An![]()
71
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
68
Girl on the Train, The
52
Killing Kasztner
74
Last Station, The
43
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
73
Me and Orson Welles
76
Messenger, The
57
Missing Person, The
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
xx
My Name is Khan
49
Nine
63
North Face
59
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
69
Red Riding Trilogy, The
29
Saint John of Las Vegas
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
77
Single Man, A
xx
Still Bill
76
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
19
To Save a Life
68
Town Called Panic, A
59
Until the Light Takes Us
57
Videocracy
65
Waiting for Armageddon
82
White Ribbon![]()
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Lumumba

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Pascal Bonitzer
Raoul Peck
Directed by: Raoul Peck
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 27, 2001
DVD: October 22, 2002
Running Time: 115 minutes, Color
Origin: France / Belgium / Germany / Haiti
Language(s): French (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Eriq Ebouaney, Alex Descas, Théophile Sowie, Maka Kotto, and Mariam Kaba
At the Berlin Conference of 1885, Europe divided up the African continent. The Congo became the personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium. On June 30, 1960, a young self-taught nationalist, Patrice Lumumba, became, at age 36, the first head of government of the new independent state. He would last two months in office. (Zeitgeist Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Lumumba revives the tradition of Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers" and Costa-Gavras' "Z" and "State of Siege." In substance and excitement, it joins their ranks.
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
What matters now, what Lumumba conveys, is the urgent chaos of revolution.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Mr. Peck's gambit works, and the result is a great film and a great performance.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Genuine thriller -- with one crisis hurtling after another, heightened by hauntingly brief moments of peace.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Lumumba is potent stuff. Complex, powerful, intensely dramatic.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
As fluid and intellectually stimulating as the man himself, a tragic, heartfelt take on an event some 40 years old that feels as fresh as yesterday's Times.
Read Full Review >Variety Deborah Young
An impassioned, at times thrilling re-creation of the birth of the country that became Zaire and is now known as Congo again.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
From the start, a comprehensible, if necessarily simplified, sense of an extremely complicated moment in history.
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
There's nothing more incendiary than the reopening of a forgotten chapter of history --nothing more incendiary than telling the truth.
Boston Globe Jay Carr
Structural shortcomings and all -- gives a neglected giant of African independence his due.
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Gives a white-knuckled, you-are-there account of a politician's dilemma, one whose repercussions are still felt in Africa.
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The film does succeed in making the story universal, giving us the drama as well as the history, the fire as well as cool examination. It's a movie that haunts you afterward.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Writer/director Raoul Peck never gives us enough intimate moments to let us feel we know the man on a personal level, and he doesn't have the narrative skill to economize the necessary exposition or steer a clear storyline.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Although the narration is addressed to his wife, we learn little about her, his family or his personal life; he is used primarily as a guide through the milestones of the Congo's brief two-month experiment with democracy.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Betrayal is at the heart of this story, but also dreams of liberty and a life where all people are treated with respect.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
The story is worth telling, one that begs the question: Has anything changed?
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Utterly enthralling even for viewers unfamiliar with the Congo's complicated political history.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The film is masterful in many ways, and brilliantly acted by its lead player, Eriq Ebouaney, but it's often overly dense and fast with information, background and ideas.
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Never much more than hagiography that lets the context of its hero's death remain confused.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris
The film feels like bare- bones docu-fiction, though, resisting the attendant drama until the bitter, grisly end.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
The movie is visually stirring. And the locations, in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, imbue the story with eerie authenticity.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Taha C gave it a10:
A poignant and infomative film. Demomstrates how the machinations of Imperialism systematically destroy one of the few ethical statesmen who might have made Congo into a safe and orderly Republic. The same tactics were employed in other fledgling African countries as well, causing most of the countries in the dark continent to fall into banana republic mode or semi-anarchy. A very well acted and powerful film.
Yewande A gave it a 10:
Excellent movie - This history was certainly not written in Brussels, Paris, or Washington!
Patrick E. gave it a 9:
An excellent film combined with power and intense captivation. A tragedy that is truly felt.
Kevin S. gave it a 10:
Lumumba is a poignant and somewhat frustrating tale of a tragedy that should not have happened, but did.
Tunde M. gave it a 10:
The truth must be told.
J. R. gave it a 10:
Compelling, brilliantly put together.
Jack D. gave it a 9:
Not quite complete, but if you care about the state of Africa today you must see it!
