Muganga

The Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and the Belgian surgeon Guy Cadière meet at Panzi Hospital. One is also a pastor, the other an atheist. Their shared work is this: repairing the bodies and the dignity of thousands of women in a region where sexual violence is used as a weapon of war. Marie-Hélène Roux's film is based on Panzi, the book the two men wrote together in 2014. The telling is built not on heroism but on continuing without stopping, and bureaucracy, money and security problems get as much screen time as the operating theatre. Isaach de Bankolé plays Mukwege with a calm, fixed weight, and Vincent Macaigne plays Cadière. The project took ten years to reach the screen. At the 2025 Angoulême Francophone Film Festival it won the audience award, the francophone students' award, and best actor for Isaach de Bankolé. Mukwege himself received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. Who it's for: Viewers able to sit with medical and human rights drama drawn from real events. Who it's not for: The subject is heavy and the nature of the violence is disturbing even told indirectly. The narration also slips into an instructive tone at times.