Virunga

I recently watched a very powerful and moving documentary.  It had all the makings of a great blockbuster, but it wasn’t at all a Hollywood film, and this was perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of it.  As I was watching, a part of me reasoned that such extreme violence, corruption, and despair could only be fiction.  Yet, Virunga depicts the lives of real people – the rangers of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Every day, these rangers risk their lives to protect Virunga, home to the critically endangered mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), amongst many other unique species.  In a country left broken by civil war, with endless threat from poachers and militant rebel groups, this is no easy task.  In fact, as mentioned in the film, many of these rangers have lost their lives.  This documentary left me both stunned and emotionally devastated. …