AllMovie

Congolese filmmaker Sebastien Kamba directed this controversial drama adapted from the novel The Legend of Mofoumor Ma Mazono by Jean Malonga. During the Congo's pre-colonial era, two tribes dominated the nation, the Tsembo and the Tsoundi. The tribes were locked in a long and contentious conflict, but a fragile peace was achieved thanks to an arranged marriage between the son of the Tsembo chief and the daughter of the Tsoundi leader. However, years later the marriage comes apart when the wife is tempted into infidelity by a handsome slave, and civil war breaks out between the Tsembo and the Tsoundi. The son of the disgraced couple steps forward to take control of the nation, and he re-establishes peace and unity in the Congo, but has he thrown away their heritage in exchange for safety? La Rancon d'une Alliance (aka The Disadvantages of an Alliance) was the first feature film produced in the Congo, and was much talked about in 1974 for its treatment of such then-taboo subjects as civil war and slavery in Africa.