Benda Bilili!

2010

Benda Bilili is a musical group from Kinshasa, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; it's a city mired in poverty and dotted with shantytown communities, and Benda Bilili reflects the difficult circumstances of the people who live there. Benda Bilili was founded by three homeless men who struggle with the aftereffects of polio and play instruments they either scavenged from the trash or built themselves from cast-off materials. However, despite their dire circumstances, the musicians of Benda Bilili possess a genuine and remarkable talent, and performing a fusion of rumba, rhythm and blues and hip-hop, they've earned an international reputation that's helped take them out of the slums and into concert halls throughout Europe. Filmmakers Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye discovered the group, financed their first album and followed them on their long road towards a better life as professional musicians; Benda Bilili! is a documentary that offers a look into the group's hardscrabble past and more hopeful present, focusing on group founder Leon "Papa Ricky" Likabu and their thirteen-year-old singer Roger Landu. Benda Bilili was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. more..

Director: Renaud Barret

Starring: Leon Likabu, Roger Landu, Coco Ngambali, Cubain Kabeya, Paulin Kiara-Maigi

Reviews

  • This unsentimental, smartly assembled film is equally attentive to the cacophony of African poverty and the balm of harmony provided by these pied pipers of hope.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • Benda Bilili! is brutally real, a document of willpower that shows not only the magic of transcendence - which may be fleeting - but also the transformation of aspiring to it, every struggling step of the way.

    - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

  • Benda Bilili! earns its exclamation point. It's a feel-good movie that actually makes you feel good, a story that will have you shaking your head in astonishment and moving your feet to some unstoppable rhythms.

    Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

    19 January 2013

  • But real-life hard-knock plot twists, as well as some tweaking of form (there's no narrator or voiceover of any kind; the film's subjects outline their grim realities largely through their rhythmically upbeat songs) make the film absolutely riveting, as does the fiercely rousing music.

    Ernest Hardy - Village Voice

    19 January 2013

  • Most magically, if one were to listen to their music but not know anything about their heart-wrenching situation, their compositions sound as if they've come from the luckiest and happiest performers in the world.

    - The Hollywood Reporter

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Documentary Film (Meilleur film documentaire)

    César Awards, France (2011)

     
  • Best Documentary (Documentaire)

    Étoiles d'Or (2011)