The Tree of Authenticity is a visual essay from photographer, artist, and director Sammy Baloji.  His works largely examine the Congolese people and the exploitation of them and their environment.  This film is no different, as it looks at the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s colonial past under Belgium.

The documentary is separated into narratives. Three narratives, but is introduced via an article from The Guardian. Baloji is going to ask you to do some reading homework while, over the next few minutes, he highlights paragraphs from the report that introduces us to the environmental impact of the Congo jungle.  Not to worry, even the slowest reader will be able to keep up.

The most compelling narrative is also the first, based off of journals from Paul Panda Farnana. She’s a Congo native who grew up in Belgium and returned in the early 1900s as the first Black Belgian colonial officer.  As his entries continue, they change from descriptions of weather and fauna, to the conflict he feels over the presence of the Belgians.  ‘Colonization is basically vandalism,’ he notes.

The second narrative is told from the perspective of a white Belgian administrator whose time in the Congo is decidedly different.  The third comes from the perspective of the Tree of Authenticity itself.   Throughout the film, Baloji utilizes images from modern day Congo, where some remnants of colonialism are being reclaimed by the jungle. Others are stark reminders of the impact it has had on the environment and its people.

The Tree of Authenticity, is contemplative, often meditative and I have no doubt more impactful in a theatre where the range of sound design can be fully admired.  At home, the film’s clear and important messaging about human greed, racism, and exploitation, become overpowered by the film’s slow pacing.