This excellent documentary tells one of the saddest stories of the late imperialist era, the genocide in the Belgian Congo. The growing need for rubber meant death for millions as the Belgian king himself set up world's most efficient production line for rubber. The cruel systematic murder was carried out for the greed of one man.

The document is set up as an imaginary trial against king Leopold III played by an actor. The material of the prosecution is crushing but king Leopold listens to the horrific details of the mass murder of an entire nation without emotion, his face a mask of stone. This movie really stirred up emotions in me. How can things like these be forgotten? Even the Congolese themselves have forgotten their dark past. Some know of the great king that practically created the modern Congo, but few realize that he was personally responsible for the deaths of millions of their countrymen.

No comments