‘Congo Boy’ Review: Congolese Filmmaker Rafiki Fariala Finds Poetry in the Chaos of War Displacement

A stirring musical drama, this Cannes Un Certain Regard entry beats with the rhythms of resilience.

By Murtada Elfadl

Murtada Elfadl

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“Congo Boy” opens with a big setpiece set in a dance club: The camera follows two young men as they walk around searching for someone, the audience immediately thrown into a vibrant milieu of throbbing music and writhing bodies. Before they can settle in, some soldiers enter the club and start firing away, scaring patrons as well as the rapper on stage, who abandons his set. In the ensuing chaos, one of those two young men takes the stage, goaded on by his friend, and soon has the audience dancing to his melodies and words. The scene encapsulates what filmmaker Rafiki Fariala set out to make: an affecting musical drama about a star being born despite all the odds against him. 

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