The return of Patrice Lumumba is the subject of a new documentary film entitled “Lumumba, the return of a hero”. This film produced jointly by Benoît Feyt, Dieudo Hamadi and Quentin Noirfalisse will be presented in preview on June 8 at the Vendôme cinema in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels.
The one hour and 26 minute work retraces the highly political journey of the return of the remains of Patrice Lumumba, but above all deals with what happened to the Congolese hero in Belgium and the Congo. Following the screening of the film, the directors organize a meeting to discuss the content with the public.
Lumumba was assassinated with two of his close collaborators, in the middle of the Cold War during the wave of African independence. Only one tooth seems to have survived the acid used to dissolve their bodies, committed by a Belgian police officer named Gérard Soete.
To date, the author of this assassination and those of Okito and Mpolo have never been charged. In 2000-2001, the parliamentary commission of inquiry discovered that the Belgian government had manifestly little regard for the physical integrity of Patrice Lumumba and had intentionally spread lies about the circumstances of his death.
This fame, which took place 61 years after his murder, was officially organized by Belgium in honor of the Congolese independence hero and prime minister. Following this event, the film “Lumumba, the return of a hero” deals, among other things, with questions of national identity, post-colonialization, economic and industrial dependence, as well as the pursuit of Justice.
The documentary film is the last tribute paid not only to Lumumba but also to an emblematic figure in the fight for the independence of the Congo.