This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

That was an excellent one.

Simply Perfect

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

We watch some films for entertainment. We watch some films for an escape from reality. We watch some films for the emotional effect. Finally, we watch some films because we should. Virunga is one such film. It is a documentary that everyone should see.Virunga follows four people in their quests to preserve Virunga National Park in the face of war and illegal oil exploitation. The Park, aside from its incredible beauty, is renowned for being the last natural habitat for the critically endangered mountain gorillas. The gorillas provide the visual and emotional backbone for the film. The two main threats to the Park include M23, a Democratic Republic of the Congo rebellion group, and SOCO International, a British oil company.The cinematography in this film is often breathtaking. Wide shots of the beautiful Virunga landscape appear with regularity throughout the film. In addition, there are moments of extreme tension thanks to the use of hand-held and hidden cameras in dangerous situations. The filmmakers succeed in establishing a hard-hitting dichotomy between the "heroes" and "villains." When I say villains, I mean villains in every sense of the word. When you listen to what the SOCO-affiliated people have to say, it often sounds like something straight out of a comic book movie. The heroes of this film are incredibly relatable due to their various obligations. One character is obligated to telling/exposing the truth. Another character is obligated to the gorillas. Still another character is obligated to the park in general. In seeing these characters discuss why they feel obligations to different things, we as viewers gain a greater understanding of what it means to be a "good human." We have a moral obligation to undo damage that has been done as well as preserve places that have escaped our contamination. Further, we have an obligation to blow the whistle on people who seek to further damage our earth. The film does a great job of emphasizing these points through its characters.I think it's important to note that the film never comes across as overbearing or "preachy." The filmmakers simply show what happens. The characters and the action do all the talking in terms of the politics and morals of the film. The situations happen organically. Nothing seems staged or contrived.Finally, I think that it is worth discussing the gorillas. As I mentioned before, I believe that they represent the backbone of the film. The filmmakers often return to the gorillas, showing them interact in an all-too-human manner. The similarity of these animals to humans gives us human viewers a more visceral reason to care about what could potentially happen to Virunga National Park. The gorillas tie back to the central theme of the film. Unfortunately, this could be one of the last films that shows these animals in their natural habitat. It would be a shame to see a species that lies only two branches away from humans on the evolutionary tree go extinct.Ultimately, I believe that Virunga is mandatory viewing for any audience. You don't have to be an environmentalist, a biologist, or a gorilla enthusiast to appreciate this film. It gives us a greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to be a morally responsible human being in an increasingly irresponsible world.

A group of brave individuals risk their lives to save the last of the world's mountain gorillas; in the midst of renewed civil war and a scramble for Congo's natural resources.We start with a broad overview of Congo history, and how outsiders helped ruined it. Unfortunately, as we soon find out, this is not just ancient history. We also see a British oil company's disregard for a World Heritage Site, and the human-gorilla interaction of those pledged to save it.Sheri Linden described Virunga as an "urgent investigative report and unforgettable drama... a work of heart-wrenching tenderness and heart-stopping suspense". Beautifully put, Ms. Linden. Few people know much about the Congo, and this should open their eyes to how the people (and animals) are still being affected by colonization today.

Certainly, there's a lot of moving scenes in this. It's real life, trying to save the wilderness and some part of our world that is alive and in danger. That alone makes it hard to not wring some emotion out of us. But the problem is that the film's focus seems to shift at times. Truthfully, it doesn't in the sense of its themes, but the sort of meandering narrative does feel like it shifts a little too much. The cinematography is beautiful though, that's to be sure of. It has a really dazed sort of tone, one that seems to really make an impact in what it's trying to do and what it's trying to evoke in the audience in terms of their feelings. In that way, it's very much a success, I just wish it had been better

Virunga National Park in the Congo is a place of unique natural beauty. It is the home to a plethora of wonderful animals and vegetation but as is so often the way, it has several serious problems that threaten it. It's the location of human violence, corruption and exploitation. The disasters that specifically loom are two different groups, the M23 and SOCO International. The former are a violent rebel force who engages in an ongoing civil war with the Congolese government and the latter are a British energy company who specialise in oil exploration. Both M23 and SOCO invade the park in their own ways and neither seems very interested in the laws that have been set up to protect the flora and fauna that exist there, far less the people who live there. It seems hardly surprising in the case of M23, as they are a paramilitary organisation who can hardly be expected to be concerned with such things but it is the more legitimate big business SOCO who seem more worrying if anything. We discover in fact that they have been involved in a bribery campaign, utilising M23 as enforcers. It's a very murky situation where big money walks all over an impoverished nation and disregards a natural space that they can see no value in in their pursuit of financial profit.The symbol of the park in many ways is the mountain gorillas. Virunga is the last place on earth where they live freely in the wild and they are a protected species. This, of course, doesn't stop poachers killing parent apes and forcibly kidnapping the young for sale. Nor does it stop enemies of the park from simply killing these magnificent animals in an attempt to destroy the very thing that they see the park being protected for, in an attempt to make Virunga a place devoid of a reason to be protected in the first place. It's a horribly cynical situation. The documentary often almost plays out like a movie in its drama. We often hear about people working hard to save the environment but in Virunga we witness people literally putting their lives on the line fighting for this issue. This is the front line for environmentalists, a bloody warzone where it's pretty obvious who the good guys are. Over the course of the last fifteen years, 130 park rangers have been killed protecting Virunga. It's not far off one death a month and it shows the extreme dedication of these brave folks.The film focuses chiefly on four such brave souls. There is Emmanuel de Merode, a Belgian warden who runs the park and dedicates himself to its protection. He was shot by gunmen two days after handing in a dossier of evidence against SOCO. Thankfully he survived and went straight back to work. We also have Rodrigue, one of Emmanuel's park rangers, who puts himself in the firing line on a daily basis. He also goes undercover for the film in order to expose bribery tactics. Likewise, Melanie, a French freelance journalist, also goes undercover to expose the views of the SOCO people involved in the enterprise. And lastly there is Andre, the guardian of four young gorillas, orphaned by the poachers. His dedication to the animals is touching and he is, to all intents and purposes, their parent. He links us back into the gorillas and the very essence of Virunga itself.This is a very strong documentary about an issue that is not so well known. It avoids preachiness and simply shows us things. Director Orlando von Einsiedel has to be given a lot of credit for how he handles the material and presents it in an engaging way, while making a very serious point. Unsurprisingly, there is much gritty, on-the-fly footage but it is also combined with beautifully composed images of the park. The cinematography at times is actually quite stunning. It makes sense to have adopted this approach, as this is a film that is about grim exploitation but also one about something very beautiful too.