|
 But that's exactly what happened as he filmed his first
feature-length documentary.
"I saw the story as a metaphor for the rebirth of the entire
region," he said. "Within a week, it was a full-on civil war.
And then I learned about the park's very serious concerns about
this illegal oil exploration, so the story U-turned really
quickly."
"Virunga," out on Netflix Inc's online streaming platform on
Friday and submitted for Oscar contention, draws a line between
the interests of oil exploration company SOCO International Plc,
civilian unrest in Eastern DRC, and a threatened local nature
reserve that houses mountain gorillas.
London-based SOCO International sent a team to DRC to convince
locals that oil exploration would help the economy.
But Belgium's Prince Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga
National Park, is adamant that mining for oil will destroy the
region's rich nature and wildlife, and corruption would prevent
locals from sharing in the profits.
"There's a famous phrase in Congo, that it's the world's richest
country with the poorest people, with foreign forces taking
stuff and the result being bad for Congolese people," von
Einsiedel said.
"In Virunga National Park, we had that process playing out on a
micro level."
The film also follows French journalist Melanie Gouby, who goes
undercover to record SOCO employees speaking of the company's
intentions. Local park warden Rodrigue Mugaruka also goes
undercover to expose corruption, and park ranger Andre Bauma
takes care of orphaned mountain gorillas.
"Here is an example of African civil servants who are heroes,
which you don't often see," von Einsiedel said.
[to top of second column] |
SOCO released a statement included in the film denying much of what
was shown. On its website, the company says it is no longer
operating in DRC and never intended to drill in the protected
mountain gorilla habitat.
The film has attracted star power, with actor and environmental
activist Leonardo DiCaprio signing on as executive producer.
"Avengers" star Mark Ruffalo, who actively campaigns against
hydraulic fracking and is vocal on water and conservation issues,
has also put his weight behind the film.
"Rarely do you see the whole lay of the land so clearly laid out,
and so directly played out," Ruffalo said. "You have the overall
sociological, economical and geo-political dynamics of the fossil
fuel industry and how they create destabilization in a region for
their own needs and gains."
Ruffalo attributed a renewed attention on environmental issues to
people being more directly affected by severe weather in recent
years.
"We're seeing this uptick in the severity of the storms, severity of
droughts, severity of the temperature rising, so now it's become
tangible, it's affecting people's lives," he said.
"We're not going backwards from here."
(Editing by Eric Kelsey and David Gregorio)
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