On May 26, 2004, pop-punk band Sum 41 went through a harrowing experience that subsequently led them to the title of their next album. While filming a documentary in the Congo, they had to be rescued when a tentative peace treaty fell apart.
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From 1998 to 2003, the Second Congo War raged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It involved nine African nations and became one of the largest wars in African history. The war began about a year after the First Congo War. Then, the Congolese president turned against his allies in Uganda and Rwanda, who had helped him obtain power.
In 2002, a fragile peace was established. In 2003, the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was implemented. However, violence continued in much of the region and has lasted into the present.
Sum 41 partnered with War Child Canada to make a documentary about the war. The result of the band’s turbulent experience was the film Rocked: Sum 41 In The Congo.
“They almost paid with their lives to tell that particular story,” said Dr. Samantha Nutt, executive producer for War Child Canada, while speaking to Blunt Magazine in 2020.
“My job was really to brief them and to provide them with information and to answer their questions, and also to make sure to steward some of the interviews,” she continued. “To make sure that everything was being handled in a sensitive and appropriate way.”
War Child Took the Band Up on Their Documentary Idea, But Laid Some Ground Rules
Sum 41 came to War Child with the proposal for a documentary about the people affected by the war. Millions were killed or displaced by the 8-year civil war. The death toll puts this war just behind World War II.
“I was very honest with them,” said Dr. Nutt. “I said, look, of all the conflicts that would benefit from this kind of activism and attention, [the situation in the Congo] is definitely one of them. But, I said, it’s also the one that’s the most unpredictable. Even though there’s been a peace deal, you just don’t know; it’s still a simmering conflict.”
She explained to the band that the organization wasn’t looking for a situation in which a celebrity goes to a different part of the world, uses that celebrity to draw attention, but makes the whole thing about the celebrity. That wasn’t the type of documentary they wanted to make.
“What our vision is for this is you go, you’re functioning effectively as journalists, you’re educating your audience back home,” she told Sum 41.”You have to be smart and articulate on the issues, and it’s not about your vague emotional experience. We’re not interested in that.”
Sum 41 Had to Be Airlifted Out of the Congo After Taking Shelter in a Hotel Bathroom
The trip lasted only six days before violence struck once again. First, Sum 41 documented lowland gorillas in their habitat, one of the overlooked casualties of the war. They spoke with workers who mined minerals in the area and a businessman who sold the minerals, which were treated as currency and fuel for the war.
The band also visited child soldiers, abandoned children, and other young victims of the war. Overall, Sum 41 proved to the people from War Child that they had done their research and were genuinely committed to the cause.
“Honestly, it really was amazing,” said Dr. Nutt. “These guys are really smart. They showed up and they were very, very well read. This is the real deal, this is not virtue signaling. This is getting it done and putting everything on the line.”
Sum 41 put everything on the line when, on the sixth day, they were forced to take shelter from increasing violence. The documentary crew kept the cameras going, but a war zone had broken out around the band’s hotel. Machine gun fire, mortar blasts, and rocket-propelled grenades surrounded them. The building next to theirs was being attacked.
According to Dr. Nutt’s recollection, the band insisted that the cameras stay on during the harrowing experience. The band and documentary crew were stuck in the middle of a war zone for two more days before help arrived.
Canadian UN Peacekeeper Chuck Pelletier flew armored personnel carriers in and airlifted everyone out. Sum 41’s next album, released that same year, was titled Chuck in his honor.
Featured Image by Brian Rasic/Getty Images
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