78
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumWhat matters now, what Lumumba conveys, is the urgent chaos of revolution.
- 90The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottMr. Peck's gambit works, and the result is a great film and a great performance.
- 90L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorGenuine thriller -- with one crisis hurtling after another, heightened by hauntingly brief moments of peace.
- 80New Times (L.A.)Andy KleinNew Times (L.A.)Andy KleinFrom the start, a comprehensible, if necessarily simplified, sense of an extremely complicated moment in history.
- 75Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrStructural shortcomings and all -- gives a neglected giant of African independence his due.
- 75New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardGives a white-knuckled, you-are-there account of a politician's dilemma, one whose repercussions are still felt in Africa.
- 75Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonThe film does succeed in making the story universal, giving us the drama as well as the history, the fire as well as cool examination. It's a movie that haunts you afterward.
- 75Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldSeattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldWriter/director Raoul Peck never gives us enough intimate moments to let us feel we know the man on a personal level, and he doesn't have the narrative skill to economize the necessary exposition or steer a clear storyline.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAlthough the narration is addressed to his wife, we learn little about her, his family or his personal life; he is used primarily as a guide through the milestones of the Congo's brief two-month experiment with democracy.
- 70TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghUtterly enthralling even for viewers unfamiliar with the Congo's complicated political history.