On this day in 1959, Congolese residents of Stanleyville rebelled against Belgian colonizers, demanding independence after a speech by Patrice Lumumba. Police suppressed the riot, killing ~70, imposing martial law, and arresting Lumumba.
The day prior, Lumumba called for a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience in a speech to the MNC congress, also ordering Congolese people to not collaborate with the Belgian colonial government and announcing that the party would not take part in the upcoming December elections.
The rebellion began on October 30th when the police arrived at the suburb of Mangoba to arrest Lumumba. The uprising was suppressed with military force, including two companies of infantry.
In total, approximately 70 people were killed in the fighting, and up to 200 were wounded. Lumumba himself was arrested by police as the government imposed martial law and banned gatherings of more than five people.
Congo would achieve independence from Belgium on June 30th, 1960, with Lumumba serving as its first Prime Minister. He was assassinated by Belgian forces and their collaborators on January 17th, 1961.
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Watched Killers of the Flower Moon and obviously theres just so much to take in, but two things that really struck me was firstly how the camera work for POV shots immediately signals a “predatory gaze” vs the “preys gaze” when it comes to white characters looking at the Osage, and vice versa. Some of that I already felt going on just from context but like as soon as Bill Hale is shown interacting with the Osage, I’m pretty sure he gets a POV shot with that predatory gaze in it.
And the second thing is just how tragic the decay of Mollie is, she’s really full of life and energy and charisma when we first meet her but all of that is taken away, and its not even slow like you might expect for such a long film, tragedy upon tragedy is inflicted on her and even in her moments of strength shes forced to be solemn and determined. And even if we’d got to see her life after the events of the film its not like she could have returned to how she was before.
Lily Gladstone better win a dozen awards.
Yes, she was amazing.
I left the theater feeling surrounded by some kind of Lovecraftian miasma of evil that infects everything in this country.