annepeter

The film was shot by a very brave group of people in what is a dangerous area. The pictures of the Park are beautiful and the those of the gorillas are captivating. I lived in DRC for five years, but mainly stuck to Kinshasa.

I was surprised by the historical inaccuracies in the initial background:

• the film states that other countries in Africa were run by European Governments, but that Congo was the only one run by companies. This is not correct. King Leopold convinced the other European Powers to grant him the Congo which he would 'run for the benefit of its people'. In fact he ran it entirely for his own financial benefit and this probably resulted in the death of 10 million Congolese (see 'King Leopold's Ghost' by Adam Hochschild).

• the film goes on to state that Patrice Lumumba, Congo's democratically elected Prime Minister at Independence was killed by mining companies. This is also not true. Patrice Lumumba made himself unpopular with the Belgian Govt with his speech at the Independence ceremony. He made himself unpopular with the American Govt with his approach to the Soviet Union for assistance.

The CIA was briefed to arrange his death (see 'Chief of Station, Congo' by Larry Devlin) and the Chief of Station (i.e. the head of CIA, Congo) was bizarrely provided with poisonous toothpaste to be introduced into Lumumba's bathroom - but this was not deployed.

The Belgian Govt took a direct role in Lumumba's murder with the Belgian Police Commissioner Frans Verscheure directing the firing squad (see 'The Assassination of Lumumba' by Ludo de Witte).

It was not mining companies that killed Lumumba, it was the Belgian and US Governments.

I can see that the film's makers wanted to present a uniform story where evil mining companies have been responsible for all the ills in Congo's past (and present), but this is not correct and this dishonesty detracts from the film.

The film's makers have downplayed the subsequent (11 June 2014) decision by SOCO to withdraw from the Park and not to return unless 'approved by UNESCO and the DRC Government'. The film makers may not like SOCO, but their undertaking seems pretty clear and categoric. I can't see UNESCO inviting them back in.

And part of the reason for that is the reality gathered and presented by the film. They, together with the campaigning efforts of WWF (likewise undervalued by the filmmakers) should get all due credit for saving this beautiful Park.

Too much attention to making things look good, not enough on the plot and what was happening in the action. In some fight scenes, they put a lot of effort into arty shots of the kicks etc, but as a result it was frequently unclear who was kicking who. But it probably didn't matter.

Suspension of disbelief is essential if you watch this film. It is not normal for a helicopter to crash in flames and explode and then someone happily jumps out without a scratch.

No attempt at an explanation of how the (?) diamonds came to be created and how they got to a US Bank vault. Scene with arms dealers entirely non-credible - and badly acted.

Scenes with daughter cute-sy to the point of vomiting. They would have shot her. They had my vote.

I was lucky that I was slow to get out of the cinema, so I didn't miss the entertaining dialogue over the credits. I must be in the minority. So, if you make the mistake of going to this film, don't leave as soon as the credits start. Stick around. Get your money's worth!