Following Stanley’s footsteps, the film Congo River takes us, from the mouth to the source, up the largest river basin in the world, that of the Congo. All along its 4,371 km we discover places that have seen this country’s turbulent history. Archives remind us of those people from African mythology who formed its destiny: colonisers like Stanley and Léopold II and African leaders like Lumumba and Mobutu. This journey to the heart of Africa, beyond the shadows of tragedy and war, is a hymn to life just like the untameable vegetation that enshrines the river’s shores. During the different stages of the journey, images from the banks tell of a people’s joys and suffering, of the celebrations and tragedies which punctuate the lives of canoeists, fishermen, merchants, travellers, military men, rebels, child soldiers, Mai Mai militia and raped women… An entire people in search of light and dignity. Yet this voyage is also a personal one of a filmmaker who already made three films about ex-Zaire. He showed the arrogance of power and popular revolt with Zaire, the Cycle of the Serpent, the predatory and builder’s spirit with The Last Colonials as well as the tragic vanity of a Shakespearean despot in Mobutu, King of Zaire. With Congo River, Thierry Michel continues his search for light and darkness. He is driven by the desire to go into the mystery and depths of this country and its forest, back in time along the history of this majestic river.