Sgt_Gath
Diamond Member
- Jul 25, 2014
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Virunga
Maaan.... I've got some choice words for this piece of crap.
It presented itself as a documentary about park rangers fighting against Gorilla poachers in the Congo. What I got instead was a disjointed two hour long Lefty propaganda film against some random oil company.
From the opening montage (which wildly spins Congolese history to make it seem like an egotistical jackass - who literally wasn't able to run the country for more than a month before kicking off a civil war when he gave everyone in government but the Army a pay raise, only to be ousted by a coup from his own party when he tried to call in the Soviet Union to quash the rebels, and then subsequently be arrested and executed for trying to raise an Army to make himself dictator afterwards - as some sort of innocent widdle victim of white supremacist mining companies :screwy) on forward, it goes deliberately out of its way to give the most one-sided and overly ideologized narrative possible.
Long story short, the Congolese government apparently granted an English company the right to explore for oil on a small portion of the Virunga National Park in the Congo. The park's manager (a white European member of the Belgian Royal Family - Zee irony! She iz too much!) really, really hates this idea, apparently, thinks it's illegal under international law, and is doing everything in his power to be a pain in the oil company and Congolese government's asses. The movie seems to think this makes him a hero, rather than some pompous little dork with no idea what he's doing.
The whole thing basically comes off as "first world problems" in the third world. On the one side, you've got the white, European, tree huggers and Lefty bleeding heart journalists trying to sabotage the oil company. On the other, you've got a couple of white European oil reps and the security contractors they've hired. The Congolese themselves seem to go both ways on the issue, but are honestly too busy trying not to be killed in a vicious civil war to care all that much.
The first group insists that the National Park is the only hope for the local economy. They feel this way in spite of the reality that the park's been in operation for decades and the region is still pretty clearly an impoverished war torn Hell hole, and even they ultimately have to admit that they're fighting a losing battle against poachers. They also seem to be absolutely convinced that the oil company is going to kill all of the Gorillas... Or something. It's never really made clear why they think this has to be an "all or nothing" kind of proposition, especially not given the fact that the company was only given access to a small portion of the park.
The second group promises to build schools and roads, as well as to provide real jobs for the local people (hint, hint - people who aren't starving to death in desperate poverty are less likely to poach endangered animals). The movie seems to feel they should be considered to be the villains here simply because they occasionally make some mildly politically incorrect comments when you ask one of them out on a date, get them drunk, and film them using hidden cameras (yea... the bleeding heart journalist is a bit of a manipulative bitch), and aren't above paying off the local warlords to keep their employees from being gunned down in the streets.
The whole thing is just ridiculous crap. The only redeeming thing about it are a couple of cute scenes with baby gorillas in an orphanage.
No surprise then that it was nominated for an Oscar, I suppose. :roll:
5 out of 10[/QUOTE]
Maaan.... I've got some choice words for this piece of crap.
It presented itself as a documentary about park rangers fighting against Gorilla poachers in the Congo. What I got instead was a disjointed two hour long Lefty propaganda film against some random oil company.
From the opening montage (which wildly spins Congolese history to make it seem like an egotistical jackass - who literally wasn't able to run the country for more than a month before kicking off a civil war when he gave everyone in government but the Army a pay raise, only to be ousted by a coup from his own party when he tried to call in the Soviet Union to quash the rebels, and then subsequently be arrested and executed for trying to raise an Army to make himself dictator afterwards - as some sort of innocent widdle victim of white supremacist mining companies :screwy) on forward, it goes deliberately out of its way to give the most one-sided and overly ideologized narrative possible.
Long story short, the Congolese government apparently granted an English company the right to explore for oil on a small portion of the Virunga National Park in the Congo. The park's manager (a white European member of the Belgian Royal Family - Zee irony! She iz too much!) really, really hates this idea, apparently, thinks it's illegal under international law, and is doing everything in his power to be a pain in the oil company and Congolese government's asses. The movie seems to think this makes him a hero, rather than some pompous little dork with no idea what he's doing.
The whole thing basically comes off as "first world problems" in the third world. On the one side, you've got the white, European, tree huggers and Lefty bleeding heart journalists trying to sabotage the oil company. On the other, you've got a couple of white European oil reps and the security contractors they've hired. The Congolese themselves seem to go both ways on the issue, but are honestly too busy trying not to be killed in a vicious civil war to care all that much.
The first group insists that the National Park is the only hope for the local economy. They feel this way in spite of the reality that the park's been in operation for decades and the region is still pretty clearly an impoverished war torn Hell hole, and even they ultimately have to admit that they're fighting a losing battle against poachers. They also seem to be absolutely convinced that the oil company is going to kill all of the Gorillas... Or something. It's never really made clear why they think this has to be an "all or nothing" kind of proposition, especially not given the fact that the company was only given access to a small portion of the park.
The second group promises to build schools and roads, as well as to provide real jobs for the local people (hint, hint - people who aren't starving to death in desperate poverty are less likely to poach endangered animals). The movie seems to feel they should be considered to be the villains here simply because they occasionally make some mildly politically incorrect comments when you ask one of them out on a date, get them drunk, and film them using hidden cameras (yea... the bleeding heart journalist is a bit of a manipulative bitch), and aren't above paying off the local warlords to keep their employees from being gunned down in the streets.
The whole thing is just ridiculous crap. The only redeeming thing about it are a couple of cute scenes with baby gorillas in an orphanage.
No surprise then that it was nominated for an Oscar, I suppose. :roll:
5 out of 10[/QUOTE]
