This is Congo Directed by Daniel McCabe
This is Congo
Directed by Daniel McCabe
Year: 2017
Country: USA, Congo
Author Review: Roberto Matteucci
Click Here for Italian Version
"It seems that God has forgotten us."
The Congo has a young population, 63.2% misfortunes between zero and 24 years. (1)
Young people should be the prosperity and the future of a nation; a lot of countries - even for nefarious demographic policies - have lost this possibility for so many years.
To compensate for this gap some countries allow immigration without control.
The Congo, despite this youthful vitality, has a disastrous economic structure. It has vast and abundant natural resources, but the gross domestic product per capita is $800 (estimate of 2017), at 227th place in the world. (2)
The country is raped by meticulous corruption, by political precariousness and by so many bloody and useless conflicts.
Like other African nations, the main trading partner is China. The Chinese have tied many countries, controlling them closely with a low-profile policy. Therefore, the numerous raw materials such as diamonds, copper, gold, cobalt, wood, oil, coffee, 35.3% of the value are destined for China. They pay for food, machinery, transport vehicles, fuels, representing 20.2% of the import. (3)
The Congo has been since 1908 a Belgian colony, under the direct ownership of King Baudouin of Belgium.
Independence happened in 1960 and, despite sixty years having passed, the structure and political maturity have even had a decline.
In 1965 Colonel Joseph Mobutu proclaimed himself president. He had in charge of violent determination systems for thirty-two years. Followed by the fall of Mobutu, interference by the confined Rwanda and Uganda, the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the useless peace conferences and the subsequent civil insurrection in the eastern Congo lead by the armed group M23, supported by the two usual adversaries: Rwanda and Uganda.
However, misfortunes do not end. President Joseph Kabila continues to hold power, although his term of office expired in 2016, disregarding the weakening of the country. New presidential elections are scheduled for 2018 but nothing is certain. Manifestations keep on in Kinshasa with furious repression.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has an extreme difference: a paradise of beauty and wealth in opposite a hell of bad politics and outrageous external interventions.
"Growing in Congo because of God's will mean growing in paradise", says a character from the documentary This is Congo by director Daniel McCabe, presented at the 74th Venice Film Festival.
Daniel McCabe talks about a duality:
"Congo is this incredibly special place, full of contrasts: Beauty and horror, hope, and despair. The more I began to learn about it, the more I realized how unique Congo was in both its problems and its qualities." (4)
The film begins showing the suggestive Congolese country, a woman sings, soldiers walking in the fields. Joining the various elements, he discovers a terrible war. Refugees flee to safe places, leaving the road with the whole family and the few transportable objects, piglets, water, bicycles. They are scared, but also colourful. While they are walking on one side of the road, the other is occupied by a line of troopers, the tank fire. Near to the fugitives starts a battle, without any care for civilians.
It is a fratricidal war; the regular soldiers are fighting the M23 rebels. The image is categorical: the frame is divided in two by the road, at the bottom, there is the camera which obliges a bifurcation, on one part the civilians, in the other one the military. Around, the green landscape of Africa.
The film is outlined in different segments, both political and social.
Colonel Mamadou is a loyal officer in the government. With commitment and courage, he guides his troops in defence of the territory. He seems honest, audacious, correct man. Scolds the cowards while they hide in battle and runs in the front row to lead the fight, he is a patriot.
There is the tailor Hakiza Nyantaba, at 58, he escaped with his family. On his shoulders, his sewing machine, with that tool feeds his wife and children.
The camp where they live is dirty, unclean, full of diseases, thousands stay in disgusting conditions.
There is another colonel by the fake name of Kasongo. He describes his embarrassing between the government and the rebel environment. He is perpetually uncertain what part to choose and how to behave.
There is the woman Mama Romance, she deals with minerals. With cleverness and skill, she manages to move easily despite the war, thanks to her strong wish to survive the ugliness of both the contenders.
Then there is Goma. From the campaign, the film transfers to the city of Goma. It is a few kilometres from the Rwanda border. It is an unlucky position, forced to suffering first the consequences of the civil war in Rwanda and then the clashes with neighbouring.
Goma is alive, suffers as a refugee, all the repercussions of these horrible situations.
But the enemy is not just bad people. Good persons, or presumed good, are evils of the town too.
The UN, the Red Cross are in the country, and they should defend Goma. Nevertheless, they are fortified in their fortresses, protected by big gates and massive walls. In the movie, we can watch protest against them by the inhabitants of Goma, they shout went back home because they do not need them. They are right, in fact, the insurgents attack the city, the United Nations peacekeeping rush to barricade rather than protect the civilian population.
The director confirms the reality of all the scenes seen:
"In the film everything you see is real, no scene has been built". (5)
Certainly, it is true, but the author is smart to identify the contradictions and complications of the country.
He has the eye of the artist, does not passively accept the collection of interviews, but he uses a refinement of the cinematographic language:
"From a standpoint cinema, I wanted to disarm and immerse the viewer with this kind of meditation is it true or not (by combining the traditional documentary style with cinematography that to traditional fiction film would have) because those are the type of films that draw me in as well. " (6)
His demonstration of the war takes place with noise. The sound turns into quiet. When the bombs fall loudly near the fleeing fugitives, the roar is transformed into silence, into fear. Terror is not in the roar of the cannon but people's faces.
Congo is a tragedy, but the director narrates it with smart editing and multicoloured images. Then there are volcanic landscapes, the feeling of even perceiving the smell of refugee camps and poverty. It is more cynical during showing the loyalist soldiers training. They are engaged in a battle exercise, but they seem to play, to simulate the shot they pop bum with their mouth because they have no ammunition.
The same soldiers in front of the camera resemble the skilled actors, filmed in close-up, they look at it with ability as Colonel Mamadou does.
On the contrary, the rebels behave like a false political, they use, incessantly, words with high-sounding like freedom and peace, which appear hypocritical in their mouths.
The film ends with a hope, a little auspice, a light for the future: tailor Hakiza Nyantaba picks up his sewing machine on his shoulders and returns home. There is a truce, a quick peace, and everyone goes in, life must continue.
(1) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html
(2) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html
(3) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cg.html
(4) http://time.com/5021206/this-is-congo-director-daniel-mccabe-interview/
(6) https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2017/11/interview-daniel-mccabe-director-this-is-congo/
