"Our honorable mention, Virunga, was dazzling in its visual artistry. Perhaps the most interesting storytelling technique was the director's use of gorilla reaction shots throughout the film. Visual imagery linking Blacks to gorillas and other primates has long been used to dehumanize. Yet director von Einsiedel manages to flip this racist symbolism on its head. Rodrigue Katembo's pledge to protect the gorillas even at the cost of his own life, contrasted with the crass materialism of SOCO's mercenaries, makes it clear whose humanity we should question."
