Congo's Nobel winner Mukwege pins hopes on new film

Congolese Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege hopes a new film about his life will achieve what decades of activism have struggled to do: bringing his country's "forgotten" wars to wide public attention.

Mukwege, a world-renowned gynaecologist who specialises in treating rape victims, is the central figure in the Franco-Belgian biopic "Muganga - Celui qui soigne" ("Muganga - The One Who Treats"), which will hit cinemas on Wednesday.

The production, which has backing from Hollywood A-lister Angelina Jolie, retells Mukwege's remarkable career at the head of Panzi hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo through his relationship with Belgian surgeon and long-time ally Guy-Bernard Cadiere.

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, the 70-year-old has operated on thousands of women subjected to sexual violence that has been a feature of the DRC's conflicts for the last 30 years.

"The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a forgotten war, it's a neglected humanitarian crisis," the survivor of several assassination attempts told AFP in Paris ahead of the release of the film, initially in French cinemas.

"Every week we see images on social media etc, of massacres, but no one talks about them. There is a lack of attention in the media to what is happening in the region," he added.

Mukwege's home region in eastern Congo has been the scene of almost constant violence since the 1990s through Rwanda-backed rebellions as well as fighting by militias.

Latterly, Rwanda-backed militant group M23 overran vast swathes of eastern Congo earlier this year, including the city of Bukavu where Mukwege founded Panzi hospital in 1999.

"Muganga", an honorific meaning "healer" in Swahili, centres on how the fight for Congo's immense mineral wealth, particularly the coltan used in mobile phones, has fuelled and funded the conflicts.

The film "can prompt people to ask important questions that they would never ask while watching a documentary, where there's a tendency to close one's eyes and think, 'I don't see anything, I won't expect anything, it's too hard, it's shocking.' Let's stop there," Mukwege added.

He is played by Ivorian actor Isaach de Bankole, previously seen in a string of Jim Jarmusch films and supporting roles in "The Brutalist", "Casino Royale" and "Black Panther".

Jolie, who joined as an executive producer of the film by French director Marie-Helene Roux, hailed Mukwege as "one of the greatest advocates of our time" in a statement earlier this month.

A critic for Le Figaro newspaper said "the beautiful film by Marie-Helene Roux inspires profound anger above all" while film magazine Premiere said it had "found the right prism" to tell Mukwege's story, adding that he is "masterfully portrayed by Isaach de Bankole".