Raoul Peck has emerged as one of his generation's leading filmmakers and intellectuals.

| Jun 28, 2021

Lumumba is framed by long, menacing scenes, lit by fire, of its main character's 1961 arrest and disappearance.

| Sep 18, 2020

It's a prime example of how a historical drama can be politically correct but thoroughly embalmed. The memory of Patrice Lumumba deserves better.

| Aug 11, 2011

Drawn from life or not, film people need some flaw, some depth, a facial betrayal of emotional struggle. If not, they are the stuff of action adventure, rooted for but at once forgotten.

| Jan 23, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 10, 2005

A historically astute and politically pointed history of what really happened in the Congo in its most tumultuous moment.

| Mar 29, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 8, 2004

One day, when Ebouaney is a huge star, people will look back at this film and say 'That's what did it.'

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 7, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 12, 2003

Peck, who assayed Lumumba's life in a 1991 documentary, now paces the doomed man's story like the genuine thriller it is.

Full Review | Oct 21, 2002

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2002

The story of the Congo and its struggle for independence from Belgium is a bloody and torrid one, but Lumumba doesn't really imbue the tale with much spirit.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 20, 2002

[C]ompelling.

| Feb 8, 2002

Lumumba overcomes some minor shortcomings and becomes an important and gripping feature.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 21, 2001

Bites off way more than it can chew, it is often artlessly made, and it assumes that we know more than most of us do about the Congolese Nationalist Movement.

Full Review | Nov 29, 2001

At the heart of the movie is Ebouaney's performance as Lumumba, every bit as intense as Denzel Washington's as Malcolm X.

Full Review | Nov 16, 2001

Earnestly but amateurishly acted, the movie feels more like a play with the actors exaggerating their gestures so that even those in the cheap seats won't miss anything.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 13, 2001

Ebouaney is easily the best thing about this import.

Full Review | Nov 9, 2001

A tense drama told with style and ambition -- and with a remarkably steely, energized performance at its core.

Full Review | Nov 2, 2001

An engrossing film that attempts to unearth a dark period of African history and the short-lived tenure of Lumumba's power.

| Nov 1, 2001