I got the chance to see the movie Lumumba for my African Literature class. The movie was about Patrice Lumumba, who was an African anti-colonial leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped to win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. The story of his life was one of courage and persistence. The movie showed just how persistence he really was and how much he endured just for his country.
Though was is interesting to me is that he had an interesting position. I was not sure if I wanted to look at him as someone who just worked the system, or someone who was more of a puppet for the Belgium and didn't know it. It could be said that he worked for the Belgium, though in his eyes he probably would have said that he worked with the Belgium, to get things done. I believe in getting things done by any means necessary but I am not sure if I would have wanted to be someones puppet.
He worked for a long time, giving up most of what made him "him" in order to make things better for his people. Which I can say that makes him a great man in my eyes for not giving up. He fought a hard fight. But it is sad to say that he was not fully able to see all of his work pay off.
With his work, the Congo finally saw an independence. But it was nothing compared to the type of "independence" that the Belgium gave them while he was alive. What he saw was a country who declared their independence, only to still be under the control of Belgium in more ways then one. Yet he continued to fight and struggle to hold on to the control, which only worked so well. The Congo turned into complete chaos after their initial declaring of their independence. People were mad! They wanted power to be in the hands of who they felt deserved it. Though at the time, no one person was thought of to be there right person whether they be Belgium or African. Partly this was because of Belgium still being present in Congo.
Then there were also those, who were out only for themselves! There were people that Lumumba trusted that even stabbed him in his back. Primarily one even that was responsible for his death. It is sad that again there is another account in history of someone giving their all for their country and their people. Only to be undercut by one of their own people, even worse someone he considered a friend.
Patrice Lumumba is a man that will forever be remembered as someone who did all they could till his dying day. He surely made his mark in history.
Part of the importance of watching the movie I was able to see the story in a completely different light then if I was to have read about him. That is the great thing about movies. Also, one thing that makes this particular movie so important was that it was a "dubbed" movie. Meaning that the movie, was done in one language, but was dubbed in other languages in order to reach a larger population.
Being able to do that for movies in Africa, were and still are very important because of the vast number of different languages that exist through out Africa. This was a movie that I would consider, at the time to be an important movie that surely needed to be seen in many different parts of Africa. So being that this movie wad dubbed, it had the opportunity to reach a wide range of people.
Though was is interesting to me is that he had an interesting position. I was not sure if I wanted to look at him as someone who just worked the system, or someone who was more of a puppet for the Belgium and didn't know it. It could be said that he worked for the Belgium, though in his eyes he probably would have said that he worked with the Belgium, to get things done. I believe in getting things done by any means necessary but I am not sure if I would have wanted to be someones puppet.
He worked for a long time, giving up most of what made him "him" in order to make things better for his people. Which I can say that makes him a great man in my eyes for not giving up. He fought a hard fight. But it is sad to say that he was not fully able to see all of his work pay off.
With his work, the Congo finally saw an independence. But it was nothing compared to the type of "independence" that the Belgium gave them while he was alive. What he saw was a country who declared their independence, only to still be under the control of Belgium in more ways then one. Yet he continued to fight and struggle to hold on to the control, which only worked so well. The Congo turned into complete chaos after their initial declaring of their independence. People were mad! They wanted power to be in the hands of who they felt deserved it. Though at the time, no one person was thought of to be there right person whether they be Belgium or African. Partly this was because of Belgium still being present in Congo.
Then there were also those, who were out only for themselves! There were people that Lumumba trusted that even stabbed him in his back. Primarily one even that was responsible for his death. It is sad that again there is another account in history of someone giving their all for their country and their people. Only to be undercut by one of their own people, even worse someone he considered a friend.
Patrice Lumumba is a man that will forever be remembered as someone who did all they could till his dying day. He surely made his mark in history.
Part of the importance of watching the movie I was able to see the story in a completely different light then if I was to have read about him. That is the great thing about movies. Also, one thing that makes this particular movie so important was that it was a "dubbed" movie. Meaning that the movie, was done in one language, but was dubbed in other languages in order to reach a larger population.
Being able to do that for movies in Africa, were and still are very important because of the vast number of different languages that exist through out Africa. This was a movie that I would consider, at the time to be an important movie that surely needed to be seen in many different parts of Africa. So being that this movie wad dubbed, it had the opportunity to reach a wide range of people.
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