What do most of us know about DRC? Well Viva Riva is a neo-film noir /gangster pic that not only fills in the blanks about the hustle and bustle of modern day Kinshasa but opens up a sexy and very gritty underworld of prostititution, fuel racketsand family units gone wrong due to violance and corruption in the DRC.It may not be as fast paced as City Of god or as slick but it has a good story, fleshed out characters and an egngaing premise.
The premise is that the city is running short of fuel,electricity,roads,sanitation,etc (you get the point) but fuel is the major thing. It's so bad even the gangsters are filling the pinch.They don't have enough cash to keep all their cars filled or to show their girls a nice time.Enter Riva and his confinement of fuel from Angola,lets say it's gets very interesting from that point.Money ,power,sex,betrayals and a whole lot of fun and at times disturbing things come into play at a very mellowed pace,giving you time to sink it all in.
The conflict around fuel becomes a nice entry point to all the social,economic and criminal ills besetting kinshasa.Yet the movie does not feel didatic nor messagey , it becomes more and more about the characters and how low they are willing to go to be ahead of the rat race.No one is spared church officials ,police , governement officials the cest pool keeps rising .
If you want some hard boiled film noir ,reminiscent of the The Big Sleep, LA confidential and Chinatown you are going to love this.It may not be classic noir in form but in content its all there,oh if you have issues with nudity and sex better stay away hehehehe
below ive added a link to a site where the director talks about his intentions for the film.Do yourself a favour and go watch this great African film
http://www.coveringmedia.com/movie/2011/06/viva-riva.html