VIVA RIVA! - MIFF 2011

By the time I ended up seeing “Viva Riva!” it was my fifth film of the day, and I think I was a little burned out.  The film is just a few minutes over an hour and a half in running time, but it felt like it went on forever.  I have seen very little African cinema, but I believe that this film must be an oddity as it is a genre piece, a crime thriller.  For what it is, it is actually pretty good, even if by the end, it was becoming more and more implausible.

The film is set in Kinshasa the capital of the Congo where small time crook Riva returns home for the first time in ten years.  In his possession is a truck load of gas, a priceless commodity in this town, as the entire town has completely ran out.  Knowing this, Riva and his business partner hide the stash until the situation becomes so desperate that people will be willing to pay up to $10 a litre for the stuff.  The only catch to Riva’s plan the fact that the gas doesn’t belong to him and that he actually stole it from some Angolians who are hot on his tail.  Riva continues to make matters worse for himself when he falls in love with a gorgeous red-headed girl, Nora, who just happens to be the current squeeze of the biggest bandit in Kinshasa.  He may have also made one final mistake by trusting his childhood friend with the information of his deal and the location of the gas.  Soon enough everyone is after both the gas and Riva, with people turning on anyone to make a quick buck.  Just like the best of film noir, this is going to play out with no winners.

I seriously believe that my tiredness affected my enjoyment of this film, because I really liked what I saw at the beginning of the film, but as it went on I started to feel time passing  however I do not think this is due to the quality of the film.  The lead performance from Patsha Bay as Riva is fantastic and he definitely has an amazing screen presence and is awfully charismatic.  The film is excitingly directed by Djo Munga and I actually found it to be quite humorous in places.  The overriding theme that money and greed ultimately destroy or corrupt may be plastered on a little thick, and you wouldn’t call it subtle, but its heart is in the right place.  By the end of the film, it does become increasingly absurd and unbelievable as well as violent as all of the characters get what is coming to them.

Overall, given a different time slot at the festival, I think I would have responded more positively towards “Viva Riva!”, but as it is, as a neo-noir I feel it is definitely worth a watch.

3 Stars.