movie backdrop
Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Recommendations

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 1, 2003

Runtime

1h 24m

Genres

Documentary, History, TV Movie

User Score

72%

Original Title

Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

Production Companies

YLE, DR, ZDF/Arte, Interkerkelijke Omroep Nederland (IKON), History Television, BBC, RTBF, Periscope Productions, VRT, SBS

Director

Peter Bate

Description

This true, astonishing story describes how King Leopold II of Belgium turned Congo into its private colony between 1885 and 1908. Under his control, Congo became a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold posed as the protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave-traders but, in reality, he carved out an empire based on terror to harvest rubber.