Film Review: 'Virunga'
Variety (blog) - 1 hour ago
JUNE 1, 2014 | 07:50AM PT
Orlando von Einsiedel's extraordinary documentary examines the many
threats to Virunga National Park in the eastern Congo.
Ronnie Scheib
With enough action, pathos, suspense, venal villains, stalwart heroes
and endangered gorillas for a dozen fiction films, Orlando von
Einsiedel's extraordinary documentary "Virunga" lays out the complex
of deadly forces threatening the titular national park, an
UNESCO-designated World Heritage site in eastern Congo. Bowed at
Tribeca mere days after the park's director -- Emmanuel de Merode, a
featured player in the film -- narrowly survived after being shot four
times, this rousing, must-see work, filmed amid flying bullets and
racist conspirators, provides a dramatic front-row seat to a struggle
whose moral integrity proves no guarantee against the superior
firepower of greed and corruption.
Virunga holds a special place in the Congo, and indeed on the planet,
as a refuge for endangered mountain gorillas -- a particularly social,
human-like species, as attested to by several amazing scenes of
caretaker Andre Bauma playfully interacting with the affectionate
orphaned primates that he considers his "other family," plus the
numerous gorilla reaction shots that von Einsiedel intersperses
throughout. Many Congolese also feel protective of the gorillas and
see the tourism they generate as an inexhaustible natural resource.
Positioned against conservationists and long-term thinkers is a
rogue's gallery of short-term plunderers. A brief montage of early
black-and-white footage testifies to the country's bloody colonial
legacy of mutilation, murder and exploitation, with more recent color
shots of the post-1994 internecine wars, which killed 5 million and
devastated the land. But despite an uneasy 2003 truce, the fighting
between government forces and myriad warring rebel groups continues,
the conflict an excuse for rampant pillaging of precious resources.
Midway through the film, Virunga comes under heavy attack, and von
Einsiedel becomes a de facto combat photographer as fleeing refugees
clog the roads; elephants, zebras and okapi race across the park's
open plains; and gorillas fearfully huddle together to the sounds of
bombs and machine-gun fire.
But Virunga was under siege long before rebel forces closed in. Recent
archival footage of a 2007 gorilla massacre, meant to obviate the
park's raison d'etre, records the slow funeral procession of the huge
beasts carried to gravesites by concerned citizens. The documentary
opens on the funeral of a park ranger, one of many killed in the line
of duty. In another scene, a routine patrol is interrupted by gunfire
from poachers who have plagued the park since its inception. The
recent discovery of oil under Lake Edward in the park seriously ups
the ante, as the government gives the go-ahead to the shady British
company SOCO to drill, in defiance of international law; von Einsiedel
films scenes of de Merode addressing his troops in preparation for
invasion.
Interviews with park warden Rodrigue Katembo, Merode's
second-in-command, trace his personal journey from violently
conscripted soldier to dedicated ranger. Katembo sets out with a
hidden camera to capture a high-ranking army officer's attempts to
bribe him to spy for SOCO. Also doing undercover detective work is
intrepid French journalist Melanie Gouby: On a "date" with a French
SOCO security exec, her hidden camera records shocking conversations
between him and a company mercenary. While the exec proposes that the
only solution is to recolonize the country since its inhabitants are
children incapable of managing themselves, the mercenary counters that
they are savages whose bloodlust cannot be changed. Neither can
conceive of altruistic conservationist goals, yelling, "They don't
give a fuck about gorillas!" and insisting that Merode is acting out
of venal self-interest.
Lensing by Franklin Dow and von Einsiedel is exemplary, from shaky
handheld shots amid artillery fire to gorgeous sweeping aerial vistas
of Virunga, with its glowing volcanoes and rare flora and fauna.
Film Review: 'Virunga'
Reviewed at Tribeca Film Festival (competing), April 25, 2014. Running
time: 97 MIN.
Production
(Documentary -- U.K.) A Bertha Foundation, British Doc Foundation,
Violet Films presentation of a Grain Media production. (International
sales: Grain Media, London.) Produced by Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna
Natasegara. Executive producers, Howard G. Buffet, Maxyne Franklin,
Jon Drever, Jess Search.
Crew
Directed, written by Orlando von Einsiedel. Camera (color, HD),
Franklin Dow, von Einsiedel; editor, Masahiro Hirakubo; music, Patrick
Jonsson; sound, von Einsiedel; supervising re-recording mixer, George
Foulgham; re-recording mixer, Nas Parkash.
With
Rodrigue Katembo, Andre Bauma, Emmanuel de Merode, Melanie Gouby.
(English, French, Swahili dialogue)
FILED UNDER: Orlando von Einsiedel Tribeca Film Festival Virunga
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