The documentary tells the story of four characters fighting to protect Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the world's last mountain gorillas, from war, poaching, and the threat of oil exploration.

Following gorilla caregiver André Bauma, central sector warden Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo, chief warden Emmanuel de Merode, and the French investigative journalist Mélanie Gouby, the film focuses on the natural beauty and biodiversity of Virunga, as well as the complex political and economic issues surrounding oil exploration and armed conflict in the region.

Von Einsiedel collaborated with park officials and French journalist Mélanie Gouby to investigate the role of the British oil company Soco International, which had been undertaking activities in the area.

The site's critical consensus reads "Virunga offers a heart-rending glimpse of natural wonders vulnerable to the atrocities of greed -- and the people devoting their lives to defending them".

[16] Ronnie Scheib wrote for Variety that Virunga was an "extraordinary documentary" with "enough action, pathos, suspense, venal villains, stalwart heroes and endangered gorillas for a dozen fiction films".

[22] On 11 June 2014, Soco International and the WWF announced a joint statement in which the oil company committed "not to undertake or commission any exploratory or other drilling within Virunga National Park unless UNESCO and the DRC government agree that such activities are not incompatible with its World Heritage status".

However, strong concerns about the credibility of this agreement were raised by the filmmakers,[24] alongside other NGOs such as Global Witness,[25] Human Rights Watch,[26] and local civil society organizations.

[28] On 13 March 2015, BBC reported that the Democratic Republic of Congo says it could potentially redraw the boundaries of Virunga National Park, to allow for oil exploration.