Director Orlando von Einsiedel initially chose to make a documentary about the valiant efforts of park rangers in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo to conserve natural resources. Their work mainly focused on caring for mountain gorillas, four of which were the only such animals held in captivity in the entire world. When hostilities broke out between government forces and the M23 rebel group and a British mining company entered the park to drill for oil, Einsiedel broadened the scope of his documentary, transforming it into a feature-like, suspenseful thriller.
One of the heroes of the film is André Bauma, the man in charge of caring for the four gorillas that survived a 2007 gorilla massacre at the hands of poachers, who would kill gorilla parents and kidnap gorilla children, with the intent of selling them for profit. Bauma is shown caring for the gorillas, and they are seen reciprocating the love he extends to them. The saddest moment in the film is when one of the gorillas dies in its cage, perhaps due to the civil war raging outside.
Other good guys include Emmanuel de Merode, the chief warden, who is the only foreign national to have been appointed to a government position with judicial powers in the Congo (de Merode is legally a prince in the Belgian nobility). Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo, the head park ranger, is another enlightened soul who ends up threatened (and later beaten) by anti-conservation elements.
SOCO, a British mining company, soon becomes a new antagonist to those seeking to keep Virunga pristine. SOCO is given permission by the Congolese government to see if there's oil in Virunga National Park. A French investigative journalist, Mélanie Gouby, goes undercover and videotapes SOCO contractors bragging that they've made deals with the government as well representatives of the M23 rebel group. At the end of the documentary, the two contractors, according to SOCO, were fired by the company, after they made demeaning comments about Africans and their ability to govern themselves, on Gouby's video.
The last third of Virguna is perhaps the most disturbing. Here we see the effect of the rebel offensive on the local Congolese population. Children, in particular, are seen being cared for in a local hospital, after indiscriminate shelling maims many of them. A shantytown that housed thousands of refugees already displaced is seen deserted, after the encroachment of the rebels.
We're informed that the M23 rebel movement is a result of the civil war in Rwanda dating back to 1994. I would have liked to have known more as to what motivated them to take up arms against the Congolese government. At the end of the documentary, the M23 forces are very close to the Virunga National Park's position. It's not entirely clear what prevents M23 from taking over the park but it appears that reinforcements arrived to prevent the rebel group from assuming control.
While it's admirable that the filmmakers allowed SOCO their side of the story which appeared in the end credits, I would have appreciated a little more about how the oil company would have damaged conservation efforts in the park. One assumes they would, but explaining "how," would have made the film's argument against the company, that much more persuasive.
"Virunga" has all the elements of a fascinating documentary. It melds the valiant efforts of pro-conservationists who are opposed by powerful competing interests including a large oil company as well as political actors on both sides of warring factions. The intent of the filmmakers is to educate what's going on in a part of the world, that the average westerner is not familiar with.
