Trames de mémoires documentaires et filmiques autour du Congo RDC: du Père Sauvage (1963) à La Rage de Pier Paolo Pasolini (2008)

In this essay, the documentary memory of the Congo between colonialism and decolonization was studied. The analysis is based on the analysis of two film projects by Pier Paolo Pasolini that have a connection with the Congo. In particular, first consideration was given to La Rabbia (The Rabbia) 1963, the script of a film that was to be made up of parts taken from the newsreels of the Cinema Mondo Libero to talk about the dichotomy war/love - past/future illustrated through myths, facts and figures of the Cold War era. The passage about the Congo is about Lumumba. In 2007 the Cinematheque of Bologna restored the film La Rage and Giuseppe Bertolucci reconstructed the first 15 minutes of the film. Secondly, we will focus on another never made film subject by Pasolini inspired by the secession of Katanga, which saw the tragic disappearance of Secretary General Dag Hamarskjold and the murder of thirteen Italian soldiers belonging to the UN. It is about Il padre selvaggio ("The Wild Father"), the story of a young European idealist professor who teaches in a new African state, and a student, Davidson, who takes part in the massacre against white UN soldiers. This itinerary aims to shed light on the difficult task of reconstructing the incomplete memory of the European presence in Africa by weaving together archive images: first, in a hollow form (Istituto Luce), and then as a testimony to an unfinished commitment. It also shows Pasolini's relationship with Africa in the 1960s.