Riva returns to his hometown of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He’s been away for 10 years. Some things are still the same.
Riva’s friends and family are still his friends and family. Kinshasa still needs gas. That’s a good thing for Riva, since he’s come in the dead of night with a truckload of stolen gasoline.
Beyond that, though, Riva is a stranger in a dangerous land.
Verdict
The Congolese Scarface
One of the things that I thoroughly enjoyed about Viva Riva! was that every character had goals and motivations, and the conflict flowed from those motivations.
Riva wants to be rich, powerful, and independent. Selling the gasoline is how he intends to accomplish that. Patsha Bay is a fine actor, who carries of Riva with panache. Riva is a creature of appetite and ambition, blind to the dangers around him.
Nora (Manie Malone) wants out. She’s sick of being a gangster’s woman. She wants to be loved, honored, and respected, and her man gives her none of that. At first, Riva seems like another cheap thug out for a thrill. Gradually he begins to look like Nora’s way out. She falls for him, until she realizes the extent of his appetites, and how little she matters to him.
Cesar (Hoji Fortuna) wants his gasoline back. He doesn’t care who he has to hurt or kill. Riva betrayed him when he stole the truck, and that infuriates Cesar.
J.M. (Alex Herabo) wants to be like Riva. Meeting his old friend brings back J.M.’s younger days, before he was a husband and father. His old dreams awaken, but he is no Riva. Damned by his own limitations, J.M. strives mightily to achieve Riva’s style and freedom.
All we first know about Riva we learn from the other gasoline smugglers and from his friend J.M.. We get to see that Riva is liked and respected, and that he is a leader among his peers. By the time our perspective merges with Riva’s, we are predisposed to like him and to want him to succeed.
Relationships are an important tool for storytellers to demonstrate characters and character development.
Even if your main character is a loner, how he (or she) relates to the environment and to the other characters he (or she) encounters reveals character.
Film Noir?
I compare Viva Riva! to Scarface because writer/director Djo Munga shows a deep understanding of what makes film noir, and demonstrates it in this film.
If you ask 10 film critics what makes a film noir, you will get 10 different answers. To me, there is a visual and a storytelling style that adds to noir.
Story elements must include a main character (usually male) with some deep desire, and a love interest (usually female, thus femme fatale) with conflicting desires.
The story usually involves betrayals and secrets. Authority often does as much harm as it does good.
By that count, Viva Riva! is just as much neo-noir as films like Memento, The Salton Sea, The Cooler, Mystic River, A History of Violence, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Brick.
Conclusion
Now, Patsha Bay (Riva) is no Paul Muni (1932) or Al Pacino (1983), but Viva Riva! is structured most like Scarface, and I say that as a compliment.
Seek out Viva Riva! and see it. Now!
