Customer Reviews

Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A superbly told and excellently researched documentary on the genocide perpetrated against the Congolese people by King Leopold II of Belgium, and covered up and perpetuated by the Belgian State.

This moving documentary tells in a microcosm the story of modern Africa - which can only be truly understood by looking at each country - and exposes the roots of its current pains.

If the United States thrives because it was built on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; it can be no accident that a country founded on the undescribable principles instituted by King Leopald II and perpetuated by the Belgian State, remains steeped in violence, poverty and human deprivity.

Afam Edozie

I showed this video to my AP World History class. My students enjoyed watching it. The documentary helped to show the horrors of Belgian colonialism through photographs, historians, and archive testimony (missionaries, reporters, etc). The documentary does not attempt or purport to present an objective view of Belgian colonialism, however. It clearly has an agenda - make Belgians, in particular, and whites, in general, feel guilty about their past. As long as you and your students know this, go ahead and buy it!

This documentary ranks up there with some of the very best and most interesting that I have ever watched. It goes into a good deal of depth on the history and how Leopold exploited the country and set it up for further failure in the future. It was very interesting and kept me glued to the tube. I own somewhere near 100 documentaries and this is one of the best I've seen.

(Don't let the goofy cartoon intro stuff fool you)

This documentary is very interesting and also revolting in the sense that it exposes the 2 sides( good and evil) of a European sovereign, King Leopold II of Belgium. The good side which many people may find hard to accept is that he did raise the level of an unknown primitive Congo into an exotic Belgian colonial state with its remarkable geography and wildlife which was evidently an explorer's dream. But perhaps his most significant deed was his exploitation of its natural resources to contribute fuel to the ongoing outside world's Industrial Revolution.With all due respect to his Majesty,he could be dubbed a benefactor by some,although with a Jekyl and Hyde personality. And at what cost to the Congo and its indigenous inhabitants? Revolting!...which exposes his bad side that greatly overshadows the good.Wanton slavery,burning and devastation of villages,torture,murder of human beings, mutilation and amputation of limbs! Could it be that this revolting practice of amputation was started by Leopold II in a gigantic scale in the Congo so that the idea was passed on to the rest of Africa to be implemented in its subsequent post colonial civil wars? As one reviewer from Lagos,Nigeria puts it plainly: This historical documentary about the Congo's exploitation may serve as an aid to understand modern Africa by "looking at each country and exposing the roots of its pains." I highly recommend watching and studying this interesting DVD.

I watched this film one evening after spending the day reading Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost." I was reading quite slowly and underlining in order to absorb the information since I am planning a trip up the Congo river. As I watched the film I recognized one quoted passage after another (archival quotes) which I had read in Hochschild only a few hours before. The numbers of quotes that I recognized were quite extraordinary. I waited for the credits fully expecting to see Hochschild's name, but it was not there! Someone wanted me and you and everyone else to think that they had studied the archives and struggled to made judicious choices of quoted materials (a gigantic job). Someone didn't want me or anyone else to know that Hochschild had done their homework for them.

It is particularly galling, in a film that purports to have a moral core, to find that the team making the film stole Hochschild's work from him and misled their audience in the credits. And in a film about Leopold's theivery, misuse and misrule of the Congo, no less! What would Joseph Conrad have said!!!!

Awesome documentary. Goes hand in hand with the book King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild.

I would have hoped for a more emotionally moving and interesting documentary but appreciate a documentary was made. I want to learn more about the Congo, Belgium and King Leopold II and think I might find some more interesting materials. This film was a good start. It is just too much like a British version of Dateline NBC or 20/20. The style the documentary was created in is similar to Kurt and Cortney if you have seen that movie.

I lasted 15 minutes before I had to turn it off. I was previewing this DVD for use in my senior class. They had just finished Achebe's Things Fall Apart and were soon beginning Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I thought this video would help me better understand the post colonialist viewpoint concerning the European presence in 19th and 20th century Africa.

Having read Heart of Darkness many times over the past 10 years, I am aware of the famous scene along the river -- Congolese of all ages standing on the banks missing hands, arms, and/or legs. As a reader and teacher I had always accepted that scene, knew its meaning, and how it contributed to overall theme. BUT seeing the video was too much for me. The archival photos of real people missing limbs proved so difficult for me. I watched for a few more minutes, but could not continue when the narration described horrendous torture.

The powerful images and archival footage will change the viewer forever, but I feel it is too graphic for a high school classroom.

I am acquainted with what happened in the Congo (the book "King Leopold's Ghost" comes to mind).

This video, in docudrama form, also tells the story. Because it is a video, there are not footnotes for us to check up on, but, the reality was there.

Look for the details with footnotes in the books (of which there are many), but see this video which pictures the reality.

A MUST SEE FOR MEMBERS OF THE DIASPORA!!! LET US NOT FORGET THAT OURS SISTERS AND BROTHERS WHO MISSED THE BOAT WERE NOT LIVING IN FREEDOM AND PARADISE AS THOSE WHO CAUGHT THE BOAT WERE JUST AS EQUALLY ENSLAVED!!!!