Death in the park: Virunga

Virunga, the Netflix documentary on the efforts under way to save the eponymous national park in the Congo from exploitation by oil exploration from a British company called Soco, against great odds and lethal opposition: the brave men of the national park service are up against the Congolese army - seemingly supportive of the drilling as the national government looks for ways to advance the economy of the region - and, far more sinister, a rebel group called M23 that routs the outmatched Congolese army and essentially just pursues bribes from everyone. The very brave documentary photographers and the young French journalist with whom they're working come out with some incredible footage of live combat - the camera crew literally dodging bullets and running for their lives - and some incredible hidden camera footage of the M23 leaders dealing with bribes and of some Soco employees talking over drinks after hours about how they are coercing the populace, whom they hold in great contempt: they're like children, etc. This is set against some lovely footage of the park workers at the rescue center for orphaned gorillas and some really scary footage of the park workers assemble and anticipating the attack coming from the rebel group - you hear gunshots and explosions in the distance and you know that the park workers are far outnumbered and outgunned. It's amazing anyone came out of the alive. The struggle is ongoing and was in fact in the NYT yesterday - a rare documentary in every sense: contemporary, bold, beautiful at times, though at times a little hard to follow as it jumps about quite a bit among many locations in the park and in the region, gripping and even frightening. Thanks no doubt to ever-improving technology for camera footage and surreptitious recording, this film has scenes rarely caught on film or video, till now.