dellascott

This belgian-made documentary traces Mobuto as he begins his life in the military, establishes a friendship with the Belgian royal family, and, by and by, in Hitler-like fashion, installs himself as dictator of the Congo(Zaire). He disposes of rivals and opponents, though not always in the most obvious ways(one acquaintance claims he had Machiavelli's "The Prince" memorized.) He dumped bodies in rivers, doled out money from the treasury to friends(sometimes having more printed when needed)and bedded other mens' wives. He insituted a short-lived and ill-fated space program. Over the years he visited with Nixon, Bush and Indira Ghandi, among others. Like his European counterpart, Nicolai Ceaucescu, even at the end he can never quite be convinced of his own unpopularity. He manages to avoid the Ceaucescu's degrading end, and instead succumbs to prostate cancer in 1997. The film makes it clear that U.S. leaders like Bush became embarrassingly thick with Mobuto because they considered him a safeguard against communism. But what is even more disturbing is that we have no reason to believe that the Congo's current government is much better.