Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Jithin K Mohan Starting with an introduction to the history of turmoils in Congo this documentary tells the dramatic story of those who are trying to exploit and suck out everything from the country focusing on the Virunga National Park. The undercover footages are much more theatrical than shown in films since we know these are real and the kind of dialogues we hear in movies which we think as an exaggeration for dramatics seem to be much short of what the real villains are capable to churn out.

Nicole of ArchonCinemaReviews.com Virunga is a well intentioned documentary that will hopefully garner attention for the clashes occurring in the Congo.The Oscar nominated documentary Virunga explores the conflict for natural resources in the Central African country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the unintended but deadly consequences for the UNESCO-designated Virunga National Park, a World Heritage Site, caught in the middle of the skirmish.The documentary, directed and written by Orlando von Einsiedel, says Virunga is about the brave individuals that act as an army to protect the Virunga National Park from poachers. In reality, the film not only explores the protection efforts of the mountain gorillas but the harmful effects of civil unrest on the DRC. Along with journalist Melanie Gouby, von Einsiedel's Virunga goes undercover to reveal the negligent motives of British oil company SOCO International.As a documentary, Virunga is interesting, eye-opening and concerning but not necessarily novel nor especially comprehensive. The information relayed to audiences is not from experts or top players in the controversy of the park, wild life or even political landscape. Instead, most of the information highlighted and showcased are simply from first hand experiences as the civil war reignites and from a few key figures who are employed by the Virunga National Park.Virunga is well intentioned but ultimately slightly faulted documentary. It is informative, but not substantially so. There are plenty of filler shots of babies crying and the beauty of the African landscape but these scenes add no significance. Virunga ends up feeling like a History Channel or National Geographic special – not a bad thing, but not the same caliber as a feature documentary film.The lack of hindsight and conclusion of the civil siege in the Democratic Republic of the Congo makes for an unstructured film where it appears that the filmmakers were learning the story as they went – leading to a lack of vision and inability to edit the film into a cohesive non-fiction narrative.Please check out our website for full reviews of all the recent releases.

Rudy Engels I saw this movie at the Docville festival in Leuven, Belgium. This a film festival with just documentaries. I had to choose between several movies and I'll never going to regret one second the choice I've made. I saw the mountain gorillas myself at Bwindi in Uganda so maybe my reaction is a little bit biased... The film is more than just a film about those magnificent animals. It's about how "we" cope with our resources but even more importantly how other people (e.g. the rangers) even give their lives to protect this. I wept during the film out of frustration but also out of an enormous respect for the film makers, rangers and everyone involved. I've had the chance to speak with Orlando von Einsiedel afterwards and it's one of the conversations that will stay with me forever. It's one of those movies that should be compulsory at school education, ... and a movie everyone should have in their collection!

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.