Review of Lumumba

A movie like "Lumumba" stands or falls with it's main performance, and I'm glad to say Eriq Ebouaney (copy-paste to the rescue) definitely knows how to hold up a movie. His acting has a wonderful natural touch to it, which makes it tough to imagine the movie with anyone else in the lead. Lumumba was a pretty complex political figure, it's good to see that he's become a complex character as well. The second main thing this movie has going for it is probably it's pacing. The movie seems very compact, it knows when to move on. It never drags, and the mere fact that it manages to cram this story into two hours without leaving any important stuff out is an amazing feat. It also employs that narrative structure where the entire movie is told in flashback, which works out really well here and also comes with some excellent voice-over monologues. Even if you're not a total history buff, hell especially if you're not a total history buff, this movie is very compelling. Excellent production.