I think this film accomplishes a lot as far as a sweeping history of the Congo, its independence movement from Belgium, and how the CIA weaponized arts and culture to orchestrate the assassination of democratically elected president and pan-Africanist Patrice Lumumba. I say “sweeping” begrudgingly however because it was almost TOO much information, bordering claustrophobic making it difficult to breathe. What it gains from its maximalist style— the text heaviness, abundance of archival research, and blaring jazz music— is a frenetic…

I really enjoyed how meditative and excruciatingly slow this film was. The tableaus were clearly a nod to Persian miniatures, something Nabili said was also because of her background as a painter. It is entirely devoid of close ups, relying solely on medium and long shots to depict our protagonist, Roo-Bekheir, in a poor village performing daily tasks, stoking a fire, fetching water, etc. We also see her pushing back against to the ruling order of marriage, and commenting on…