L'Empire du silence

The Democratic Republic of Congo is being torn to pieces by a war ignored by the media and the international community. The death toll rises to hundreds of thousands of victims, if not millions. The perpetrators of these crimes are innumerable: rebel groups, but also the armies of Congo and neighbouring countries. They all seem obsessed with money and power and think they can just grab Congo’s riches without consequences. Thierry Michel has been travelling through Congo with his camera for more than thirty years and has witnessed the fighting and the suffering, but also the hope of the Congolese people.

Because of a plea by the Nobel Prize winning doctor Mukwege, he discovers the shackles of this ruthless violence which has been destroying Congo for twenty five years. The director portrays the story of Congo and its people chronologically. The people have fled and have been starved, raped and murdered. This level of impunity is unseen. 110 minutes of horror. Eighty years have passed since the Holocaust and people said that this could never happen again. But in Congo this is the daily reality, while the world looks away. You are overcome with anger and helplessness, especially when at the end the film asks itself the question: What can a film really do for the situation in Congo?