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Lumumba (2000)

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Haitian-born director Raoul Peck exorcises the demons of his adopted Congolese homeland in his erudite retelling of the tragically ended life of Patrice Lumumba, the Congo's first and last popularly elected prime minister. Spinning off from his 1992 documentary LUMUMBA: DEATH OF A PROPHET, Peck, with the benefit of recently uncovered information, unfurls the frenetic life of Lumumba, jumping backwards through his erratic and surprising rise to power from his brutal murder. Eriq Ebouaney portrays Lumumba's unique mix of antagonistic energy and chaotic charisma with breathtaking momentum; from his days as a beer salesman to his imprisonment for insurrection, to his attendance of the meetings instrumental in helping the Congo gain independence. The doomed leader's trajectory takes on Shakespearean proportions of betrayal and epic tragedy when his friend and companion Joseph Mobutu (played icily by Claire Denis regular Alex Descas) capitulates to the powerful forces of greed and international political maneuvering.