Virunga National Park Analysis

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Tucked away in the northeastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Virunga National Park is one of the most biodiverse and rich areas left in the world. It is a safe haven for many exotic and endangered animals, including mountain gorillas. However, because the Democratic Republic of Congo is centrally located in Africa, the country is in midst of turmoil and wars that erupted following post-colonization. Furthermore, the Democratic Republic of Congo itself has instability within its own country because of authoritarian and volatile leaders, such as Mobutu Sese Seko. Under his rule, he permitted various global organizations to extract resources from the country, letting areas such as national parks become susceptible to mining. The filmmakers of Virunga expose the corruption of SOCO, a British oil company, who targets …show more content…
It not only humanizes the gorillas, but it proves to SOCO that their motives are heartless and cruel. As a result, this motivates the audience even more to support Virunga National Park and Andre’s work. Another moving aspect of the documentary’s visual rhetoric is its footage of the park itself, highlighting the lush forests, mountains, and biodiversity in different plants and animals. The film portrays Virunga as a beautiful home and refuge, rather than a site of extractable resources. The park is aesthetically pleasing, and throughout the movie clips of the wildlife are included. While watching the film, the filmmakers made sure to include the original sounds that the animal makes so the audience pictures themselves in the scene.
There is also a sharp contrast between the beauty of Virunga National Park and the desolate slums where most of the inhabitants have settled, areas that were once rich with animals and trees. This suggests that, without Virunga’s mere existence, the Democratic Republic of Congo would lose what is truly unique about the

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