The documentary film entitled “Lumumba, the return of a hero”, directed by Benoît Feyt, Dieudo Hamadi and Quentin Noirfalisse, will be screened in preview on June 8 in a Brussels cinema. This one hour and 26 minute film focuses on the celebrations surrounding the return of the remains of Patrice Lumumba, the hero of Congolese independence and the country’s first Prime Minister, who was assassinated in 1961. It also questions what he remains of this important character both in Belgium and in the Congo, a country where his body, dissolved in acid, has never been found.
The return of Patrice Lumumba’s remains was celebrated with an official ceremony in Belgium last year. But the country’s history has remembered a dramatic episode for 61 years when Patrice Lumumba was assassinated with two of his closest collaborators in the midst of the Cold War and when African countries were seeking their independence.
Thus, the film immerses us in the violence of the time, perpetrated by certain Belgian police officers, in particular Gérard Soete who had participated in the elimination of Lumumba. The latter had even tried to commit an ignominious action by making the bodies disappear, but he could not prevent the conservation of a tooth that was recently found. However, several decades had to pass before it was known that human remains had been kept in Belgium.
The return of Patrice Lumumba arouses, so to speak, a lot of emotions, and this film attempts to revive the famous Congolese character who today has become a true icon. This screening will be marked by a meeting with the directors.
It should be remembered that the murder of Patrice Lumumba and his close associates has never been resolved. In 2000-2001, a parliamentary commission of inquiry concluded that the Belgian government had taken little account of the physical integrity of Patrice Lumumba and that it had deliberately spread lies about the circumstances of his death. To date, the culprits have never been identified or punished.
Patrice Lumumba comes from a modest family in Onalua, a region of the DRC, the Belgian Congo at the time. He received a solid education very early in Christian missionary schools, allowing him to forge a strong personality. His commitment to the cause of Congolese independence is thus legendary, due to his fighting spirit and his ability to inspire the masses around him. Today he is a true icon of independence and freedom in Africa.