davdecrane

Extremely poorly acted and slow to get going, Viva Riva manages some interest in seeing what the worthless, depraved types will do next in the way of merciless violence. There's no one to root for as everyone's corrupt and thuggish – and evincing no interest in living any other way. There are some cultural revelations that would be politically incorrect in a movie not directed by an African: the self-hating nature of many Congolese toward their kleptocratic culture and a wistful feeling that maybe things under colonialism were better. What's most unfortunate about the film however in the opinion of one who lived in Kinshasa many years ago is the lack of depiction of Congolese strengths in the wake of so much cupidity. A strong, stoic people, struggling to get by, and usually without violence and serious graft; and the continent's best music and musicians bar none. You'd never know anything positive about these people or this place based on this silly over-the-top yet still boring crime melodrama.