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Kisangani Diary

1998 · 52 min

A harrowing, clear-eyed plunge into catastrophe, watching helplessly as aid and hope collapse into massacre.

Directed by
Hubert Sauper
Genres
Documentary
Overview
Along an overgrown rail track south of the Zairean town Kisangani, a UN expedition together with a handful of journalists discover “lost” refugees. They are eighty thousand Hutus from far away Rwanda, the last survivors of three years of hunger and armed persecution that transpired throughout the vast Congo basin. The Hutu-refugees leave the forest, gathering in two gigantic camps. Hundreds of refugees die every day from diseases and malnutrition The Rwandans are promised repatriation with airplanes out of Kisangani. The film traces those refugees into the heart of the rainforest, and the hopeless attempts to help them.. But only four weeks later, the unprotected UN-camps are again attacked by machine-gun fire, deliberately massacred by factions of the rebel army (AFDL) of today’s Democratic Republic Congo. Eighty thousand men, women and children disappear once again back into the jungle. (jedensvet.cz)

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Hubert Sauper
Genres
Documentary
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • bleakstrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • war
  • survival
  • death
  • violence
  • isolation
Places
  • wilderness
  • countryside
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • documentary
  • true story
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror5
Humour0
Realism10
Romance0
Tension7
Darkness9
Complexity6
Emotional weight9

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
documentary
Directed by
Hubert Sauper
Written by
Hubert Sauper
Cinematography
Hubert Sauper
Runtime
52 min
Country
Austria, France
Languages
English, French

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