Mobutu, King of Zaire

Thierry Michel & — 136' — 1999
Synopsis
Africa / Colonialism / Continents / Dictatorships / History /

Of all the human passions, the appetite for domination is the most inebriating. 
 St. Augustin. The ultimate “African King”, Joseph Désiré Mobutu was one of the oldest, most tenacious dictators that came to power as a result of the Cold War and decolonisation. November 1965. With the help of the CIA, Mobutu launched a coup d’ état and seized power in the former Belgian Congo. He renamed the country “Zaïre” and imposed on his people a peace based on fear, violence, and repression. In less than 25 years, this young sergeant of the colonial army became one of the most feared, wealthiest men in the world. He sided with the West and built a pyramid of autocratic, predatory power, held in place by money. He handed out favours and disgrace, and was the absolute ruler of the ruins of a country ravaged by corruption. Mobutu, King of Zaire is the story of one man’s exceptional destiny built on ambition and grandeur, betrayal and cowardice, a character worthy of the great Shakespearean tragedies.

Belgium

Production: Les Films de la Passerelle
Coproduction: Image Création, Les Films d’Ici, RTBF Liège, VRT/ CANVAS, CBA
With the support of the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Commission européenne, Eurimages, Media II

Other films from Thierry Michel

Zaïre, the cycle of the snake

Thierry Michel & — 58/85' — 1992

The last colonials

Thierry Michel & — 61' — 1994

Donka, the X-ray of an African hospital

Thierry Michel & — 59/85' — 1996

Iran veiled appearances

Thierry Michel & — 54/94' — 2002

The Chebeya affair, a state crime?

Thierry Michel & — 94' — 2011
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