This is an interesting and well made film but does not really catch the complexities of its subject. Lumumba was a great speaker and a firebrand, but he had a contrary and illogical personality that somehow managed to alienate the man from EVERY major player in this complex tale - all the important Congolese politicians, the UN, the Americans and of course the Belgians. All these parties ended up exasperated with the man and finally intensely disliking him, often for wrong reasons (contrary to what the Americans thought, he was not a communist....). So, in this respect, the film eulogizes its subject by presenting his good, but not bad, traits (he hardly endeared himself further to the Americans by requesting the authorities to furnish him with prostitutes while on an official visit to the US.....). Apart from that, the film is reasonably evenly-handed and allocates blame for his death where it should lie. I thought the portrait of Mobutu was effective..
