A straightforward biopic about a man, Patrice Lumumba, who worked and died to take his people from a colonial bondage to a bright and beautiful future.  The “bright and beautiful” never materialized.  This movie sets the groundwork for why not. Well done biopics show the human side of history–the lonely nights and long nights, the gnawing doubts and the inescapable uncertainties.  Lumumba shows it, warts and all.  Too often African history is largely faceless (Zulu) or more white than black (Black and White in Color), but Lumumba sets the record more on the straight and narrow.

Black and White in Coloris French film at its best.  There is classy irony in this historic tragi-comedy. Set in Africa, at the start of The First World, the film follows a group of isolated French nationals swept up by patriotic fervor and very little sense.  The natives get dragged along on this fool’s adventure (as do the natives on the “German side”). There is a lot of senseless and fruitless killing.  The wise and prudent voices being drowned out by the rabid rabble-rouse rs.  The ending is both deeply saddening and highly ironic.