White king, red rubber, black death A film

DVD - 2006

Using dramatic reinactments and interviews with historians, it describes how King Leopold II of Belgium turned Congo into his private colony between 1885-1908. Under his control, Congo became a labor camp of shocking brutality. People were starved and tortured in the name of harvesting rubber. The accompanying film tells the saga of 267 Congolese, brought to Brussels for the 1897 Worlds Fair. After some four months of travel towards Belgium, they were exhibited before a million visitors. One hundred years later, Congolese compatriots return to the scene of these events and question the "Whites" of today on the incredible story of that "human zoo".