If you've only thought of the Congo in terms of Hearts of Darkness and the carnage of the Second Congo War, the new film Viva Riva! is an eye-opener. The first feature from former documentary filmmaker Djo (Joe) Tunda Wa Munga is also the first contemporary Congolese drama to be made by a homegrown director.
Patsha Bay makes his charismatic screen debut as Riva, a cunning thief who's after the heart of a gangster's woman (a riveting, and dangerous redhead named Nora, played by Manie Malone). His insatiable—well, let's call it bravado—leads him to ill-advisedly pursue her while hiding out in the Kinshasa underground after heisting a gasoline truck from his former boss, an Angolan gangster (Hoji Fortuna) who is tearing up the city to find him and get his precious gasoline back. The pace is non-stop, and there's a seductive charge to the vividly choreographed sex and violence, but also plenty of telling details underpinning the comic flourishes with social commentary. As much a mosaic of the hedonistic and pulsing capital city as it is an eccentric crime story, the confidently made Viva Riva! is a free-spirited film noir splashed with a vibrant African palette.
Munga spoke with GreenCine Daily this week while promoting the film, which opens June 10th in New York and Los Angeles.
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