L’histoire brutale de la colonisation de l’Afrique centrale par le roi Léopold II de Belgique. Pendant cette période, cette partie de l’Afrique est devenue un immense camp de travail dans lequel des millions de personnes ont trouvé la mort.

Ce documentaire évoque le destin tragique et mal connu du Congo, ce grand territoire au coeur de l’Afrique, propriété personnelle (de 1885 à 1908) du roi des Belges, Léopold II, puis colonie de la Belgique jusqu’en 1960. La première colonisation du Congo, entreprise à titre personnel par le roi des Belges Léopold II, a longtemps été un sujet tabou. Elle se révèle la plus barbare et la plus impitoyable de l’histoire coloniale. Elle remet largement en cause les prétentions d’évocation d’un quelconque « bilan positif de la colonisation ».

Un film de Peter BATE

Belgique / Allemagne / Royaume-Uni /Finlande, 2003, documentaire, 1h49min, VOSTF

avec Elikia M’Bokolo, Imhotep Tshilombo Lubambu, Roger May, Nicholas Fraser


Year
2003

Runtime
84 minutes

Language
English with French subs

Country
Belgium

Genre:
History

Titre Original (anglais)
CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH

Titre français
CONGO: LE ROI BLANC, LE CAOUTCHOUC ROUGE, LA MORT NOIRE

Classement
NR (No Rating / Sans Classement)

Producteur
Paul Pauweis

Co-Producteurs
Bill Binnemans, Nick Fraser, Olaf Grunert

Réalisateur
Peter Bate

Scénariste
Peter Bate

Image :
Renaat Lambeets

Son
O. Struye, R. Vanderslagmolen

Monteur
Hugh Williams

Musique
Howard Davidson

PARTICIPANTS
Elikia M’Bokolo, Imhotep Tshilombo Lubambu, Roger May, Nicholas Fraser

Production : Périscope production, BBC, ZDF/Arte, Ikon, VRT, RTBF, YLE

Distribution : Périscope production

Le film peut être visionné sur le lien internet indiqué.

The Belgian government has denounced this documentary as a « tendentious diatribe » for depicting King Leopold II as the moral forebear of Adolf Hitler, responsible for the death of 10 million people in his rapacious exploitation of the Congo. Yet, it is agreed today that the first Human Rights movement was spurred by what happened in the Congo.

This true, shocking, astonishing story of what the Belgians did in the Congo was forgotten for over 50 years. CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH describes Leopold II, King of the Belgium’s private colony of the Congo between 1885 and 1908 as a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold posed as the protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave-traders but, in reality, he carved out an empire based on terror to harvest rubber. Families were held as hostages, starving to death if the men failed to produce enough wild rubber. Children’s hands were chopped off as punishment for late deliveries.

A film by Peter BATE

Belgium / Germany / United-Kingdom /Finland, 2003, documentary, 1h49min, English with French subs

starring Elikia M’Bokolo, Imhotep Tshilombo Lubambu, Roger May, Nicholas Fraser


Year
2003

Runtime
84 minutes

Language
English with French subs

Country
Belgium

Genre:
History

Original Title
CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH

French Title
CONGO: LE ROI BLANC, LE CAOUTCHOUC ROUGE, LA MORT NOIRE

Rating
NR (No Rating)

Producer
Paul Pauweis

Co-Producers
Bill Binnemans, Nick Fraser, Olaf Grunert

Director
Peter Bate

Screenwriter
Peter Bate

Cinematographer
Renaat Lambeets

Sound Designers
O. Struye, R. Vanderslagmolen

Editor
Hugh Williams

Music
Howard Davidson

Cast
Roger May, Nicholas Fraser


Production:
Périscope production,
BBC,
ZDF/Arte,
Ikon,
VRT,
RTBF,
YLE

Distribution:
Périscope production

To be ordered from ArtMattan Productions (www.africanfilm.com)
Language: English/French/Duch w/ English subtitles

This true, shocking, astonishing story of what the Belgians did in the Congo was forgotten for over 50 years. Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death describes Leopold II, King of the Belgium’s private colony of the Congo between 1885 and 1908 as a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold posed as the protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave-traders but, in reality, he carved out an empire based on terror to harvest rubber. Families were held as hostages, starving to death if the men failed to produce enough wild rubber. Children’s hands were chopped off as punishment for late deliveries. The Belgian government has denounced this documentary as a « tendentious diatribe » for depicting King Leopold II as the moral forebear of Adolf Hitler, responsible for the death of 10 million people in his rapacious exploitation of the Congo. Yet, it is agreed today that the first Human Rights movement was spurred by what happened in the Congo.