Viva Riva!

Criminals fighting over stolen loot, double-crossing each other and paying off corrupt law-enforcers. Lots of shoot-outs and fist-fights. Beautiful women and tough guys. The occasional sex scene. A plot that twists and turns.

Sounds like your average Hollywood gangster flick. But this is not Hollywood, but Kinshasa. The loot is not cocaine, but petrol. The location is not downtown LA or the Bronx, but a Congolese slum. The foreign gang leader is not Mexican, but Angolan. The hero doesn't drive a flashy car, but a battered wreck with 'auto école' written on it.

Viva Riva is an unusual combination: a classic gangster movie, set in one of the poorest countries in the world. The result is an interesting film, that can appeal to thriller-fans and to art-house movie lovers.

The movie has nothing of a classic third world film. Poverty or inequality is not an issue. It's all about fast-paced action. At the same time, it's very authentic. The language is Lingala, the slums are real, the music is Congolese. No artificial ingredients to please a western public.

The plot has a lot of noir-elements. The femme fatale, leading the hero to his downfall; a labyrinthine plot, with no-one trusting no-one; and the seedy bars and brothels where a lot of the action takes place.

Viva Riva works best as a film that will fill your eyes and I mean that in the best sense. The film looks really good from the costumes of the nattily dressed gangsters that Riva is trying to rip off to the complete flashiness of the art deco of the nightclubs that these guys rule over--the film is dripping with style. I should add that the movie is also dripping with violence also as the movie has quite a bit of violence even towards women in it throughout. Its not a film that spares someone from a beating just because she's a she.

The movie's narrative on the other hand is pretty classic. Small time hustler and thief returns to hometown and promptly falls for gangster's girl. Gangster notices and gets upset. Meanwhile the thief is being tracked down and targeted for revenge by the guys he stole from...and those guys are not playing around, they're way more dangerous then the flashy gangster. Film works really well to a point. That point would be the last twenty or so minutes (maybe even ten minutes) where the plot threads that have been forming the whole time finally come together but they don't exactly merge the way you'd like them to. I don't know if it works exactly but i enjoyed it more or less even if its not a plot you haven't already seen in many a film before.

Film is worth checking out tho if you're a fan of hard boiled crime stories or classic gangster cinema (by which i mean movies where the dames talk tougher then the anti heroes) Film does end kind of abruptly--there;s a big shootout (of course) but what happens at the end should've been made either more explicit or more final. Its interesting that i saw this not long before i saw "submarine" because while the two films have absolutely nothing in common--they both sort of suffer in comparison to other films in their genre but are both so so pretty to watch on their own that they almost make up for it in set design alone.

I caught a small screening of this film and couldn't take my eyes from the screen until the final credits rolled. A 'neighborhood kid' returning to his hometown brings some baggage back with him. Filmed on location in Kinshasa, this film makes you say 'Did they really just do that?' over and over. Riva may not be the best guy, but his attitude about life makes me respect him. Overall, I would call it a gangster flick set in the Congo with greed, corrupt government officials, and a dash of romance. You can also expect the usual twisting plot with plenty of action, sex, and alcohol. Nothing is left to the imagination. If it happens in the story, you get to see it.. all of it.

I initially thought this movie would be like any other mobster flick, but I was blown away at how good it actually was. I felt the actors were well chosen for their characters, especially Patsha Bay as Riva. He was a clever character that had me intrigued of what he was going to do next. Most scenes happen in Kinshasha which fits into the plot line and is also visually appealing. I feel the plot went to many extremes and was comical at times, which worked extremely well. If you're looking for an action packed film with quite an amount of gore, this films perfect for you ( as I do enjoy these type of films myself). This is definitely a must see and I can't wait to see it again.

Someone did their homework in this brilliantly acted existential film; a sexually charged safari into the Kinshasa black market; a world of bandit capitalists looking for the contraband long deal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, creating a new sub genre- African film noir...gritty, real, dark and poignant, where anyone who knows movies beyond the entertainment spectrum is going to find this bit of creative genius to be a damned fine piece of work which evidences an eye for nuance about the human condition as experienced in any 3rd World country where poverty is endemic and the struggle for survival is more than a party game.