Virunga

"Conservation is war"

2014 1h 40m EN

🙌

7.9

BANGER

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

8.1

IMDB

★7.9TMDB · 242🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●95Metacritic★8.1IMDB · 12,546

DocumentaryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Virunga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest national park, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a contested ground among insurgencies seeking to topple the government that see untold profits in the land. Among this ongoing power struggle, Virunga also happens to be the last natural habitat for the critically endangered mountain gorilla. The only thing standing in the way of the forces closing in around the gorillas: a handful of passionate park rangers and journalists fighting to secure the park’s borders and expose the corruption of its enemies. Filled with shocking footage, and anchored by the surprisingly deep and gentle characters of the gorillas themselves, Virunga is a galvanizing call to action around an ongoing political and environmental crisis in the Congo.

“Conservation is war”

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Cast

André Bauma
Emmanuel de Merode
Mélanie Gouby
Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo
Vianney Kazarama

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Orlando von Einsiedel
Writers: Orlando von Einsiedel
Languages: French, Swahili, English
Countries: Congo, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, Swahili, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Congo, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

André Bauma and Emmanuel de Merode and Mélanie Gouby carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Conservation is war".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt3455224 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Orlando von Einsiedel directs. Produced in Congo, United Kingdom. Dialogue in French, Swahili, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 12 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, Swahili, English.
3International production across 2 countries: Congo, United Kingdom.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5André Bauma and Emmanuel de Merode and Mélanie Gouby carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Conservation is war".
7IMDB entry: tt3455224 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Virunga (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 95/100
IMDB rating: 8.1/10 · 12,546 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 42 wins & 28 nominations total

Grierson Awards

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Orlando von Einsiedel

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-08-09
★ 7/10
This is essentially about the sterling efforts made by the conservation rangers in the Virunga national park in what is now the DR of Congo but it quite quickly expands from their work to illustrate just how inconsequential preserving a tribe of gorillas was when armed soldiers began marauding about the place parading their astonishing array of heavy weaponry and indiscriminately wreaking death and destruction as they went. That's as well as the poachers who reckoned that by eliminating those protected species, the park would be abandoned and finally there's the international industrial concerns who care little for their obligations to conservancy - egged on, at least under the radar, by blind eyes being turned globally, nationally and locally too. The camera crew show considerable daring as they follow these courageous and often quite emotionally invested workers into some seriously perilous territory and we are not spared some shocking imagery of the brutality inflicted upon many of the animals - particularly one rhino, so this isn't for the squeamish! Like so many similar documentaries, it does present a rather one-sided narrative which is a bit of a shame as I'd like to have seen more from both the government and the oil industry by way of explanation and defence of an environmental strategy that is clearly venal in the extreme, but that also doubtless might bring jobs and opportunity for a subsistence nation that is still reeling from the ravages of decades of human conflict and that may well have proponents too. This is a country that has been fought over and exploited for generations and after watching this you sort of hope against hope that perhaps those days are over. I'm not sure they are, though.

Production companies