On Thursday, June 8, the Vendôme cinema located in Ixelles in Belgium, will receive a preview of the documentary film called “Lumumba, the return of a hero”, directed by Benoît Feyt, Dieudo Hamadi and Quentin Noirfalisse. This one hour and twenty-six minute film seeks to understand what remains, today in the Congo and in Belgium, of Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated in 1961.
The return of Lumumba’s remains to Belgium last year was an opportunity for Belgium to hold an official ceremony in honor of this Congolese hero of independence and Prime Minister. Directed by three filmmakers, this documentary film deals with the question of what remains of Patrice Lumumba in the DRC and in Belgium.
The body of Patrice Lumumba was dissolved in acid after his assassination with two close collaborators in 1961, in the context of the Cold War and the wave of African independence. Only one tooth remains from the body which has passed through the acid. This later made it possible to discover that human remains had been preserved in Belgium after decades of uncertainty.
In 2000-2001, a parliamentary commission of inquiry recognized that the Belgian government had taken little account of the physical integrity of Patrice Lumumba and had deliberately spread lies about the circumstances of the death of this hero of Congolese independence. Until now, this murder as well as the assassinations of Okito and Mpolo have still not been elucidated.
Patrice Lumumba is an important figure in the history of Congo. Born in 1925 in Onalua, this Congolese from an early age received a solid education allowing him to become a strong personality, often beyond his modest social status.
The screening of this documentary film is also an opportunity to meet the directors, to discuss the subject and the news related to it.
Ultimately, this documentary film on Patrice Lumumba is eagerly awaited by those who want to understand this particular period in the history of the Congo, which marked the arrival of a new era of independence and freedom.