Mozambique:
"Behind the Lines" (1971), of Margareth Dickinson. Documentary film about the Mozambican liberation war. It strives to capture feelings experienced by the FRELIMO guerrilla, that fought the Portuguese colonial regime in the bush, during the day-to-day battle which started in 1964. Filmed in Niassa, in an area where a hot Portuguese attack took place, it includes interviews with fighters – men and women – where they present their reasons for the fight. The liberated areas – FRELIMO’s laboratory for a ‘New Man’ – are seen from several perspectives, already anticipating the Independence which took place in 1975.
"Mueda, Memory and Massacre" (1979), of Ruy Guerra. The film tells us about a little village in northern Mozambique where, in 1960, African populations where massacred by the Portuguese colonial administration. Survivors of this massacre reinterpreted, in several moments after the national independence, this episode of Mozambican history, playing the part either of the aggressors as of the aggressed. This film is considered by many as a creative expression of the liberated popular culture.
"The Times of Leopards" (1985), of Zdravko Velimorovic. In a slightly wooden rendering of the fight for Mozambique's independence, this political drama is fired a guerrilla unit of FRELIMO who brave tough odds to help their country eventually throw off the 450-year-old Portuguese yoke. Set to have taken place in 1971, independence was actually four years away, it centres on the role of Pedro, the commander of the guerrilla group, who was captured by Portuguese army. His men from the guerrilla unit stormed the Portuguese barracks with the intent of freeing him – though the prognosis for success does not seem good. ( Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi)
"Borders of Blood" (1985), of Mario Borgneth. This film springs from the need to provide audiences in the western world with the point of view of those in the front lines of the political process taking place in Southern Africa. A focus of international tension, Southern Africa regions is generally analyzed within the space of the East/West conflict. This view ignores the true nature of the clash. Borders of Blood aims to contribute to a better understanding of the problem by filling the information gap that exists in the West. The film is a documentary that examines the policy of destabilization in Southern Africa and its impact on the Frontline States. The film pays special attention to the increasing destabilization of Mozambique and its effects on the process of the nation’s reconstruction. The film’s narrative traces the history of the political forces in the region, starting with the liberation struggles of the former Portuguese colonies in the 1960s, following the political development of these struggles.
“The Wind Blows from the North” (1987), of José Cardoso. The 1960’s became branded by the ‘winds of change’ anticipating African independencies, a tendency that Portugal persisted in ignoring. Amidst the strategies for keeping the colonies, the Portuguese created a trained oppression machine, ready to crush any revolt. The Wind Blows from the North is a project registering this moment of Mozambican history, with a set around 1968. The scenes bring to us the progressive development of the liberation war, a general feeling of disbelief, confusion and panic that had took hold amongst the colonizers and the beginning of their’ flee to the metropolis.
"Treatment for Traitors" (1983), of Ike Bertelsen. This Documentary concerns an important moment of the independent Mozambique history – the rehabilitation of ‘collaborators’ with the Portuguese colonial regime in Mozambique. President Samora Machel and his government had a week-long session with thousands of Mozambicans accused of ‘having been collaborators of colonialism’, promoting their rehabilitation as full rights citizens. Amidst the collaborators, that came to be known as ‘compromised’, Mozambicans could be found having betrayed their fellow citizens, and at times even committed tortures as orders from Portugal, during the Portuguese colonial occupation; others had voluntarily joined the Fascist Party (ANP), became agents of the political police (PIDE) or soldiers of the colonial army, highly trained commandos with the mission of attacking villages (GE’s GEP’s).
"Virgin Margarida" (2012), of Licínio de Azevedo. Drama located in 1975, when the Mozambican revolution gained the streets of Maputo. Prostitution was seen as one of the marks left by colonialism, which had to be eradicated from the society to come. An operation was set for the ‘removal’ of prostitutes from the capital, and other women undesired for the lives they lead, contrary to FRELIMO’s puritan morals. These women were sent to re-education camps in northern Mozambique, to undergo a transformation – through work and revolutionary education – to ‘New Women’. The film is the story of a 16 year old girl, a virgin still, which is caught without documentation and taken to those camps by mistake.
"Cuba: An African Odissey" (2007), of Jihan El Tahri
"Flame" (1997), of Ingrid Sinclair
"Lion of the Desert" (1981), of Moustapha Akkad
"The Battle of Algiers" (2001), of Gillo Pontecorvo
"Something of Value" (1957), of Richard Brooks
"Lumumba" (2000), of Raoul Peck
"Days of Glory" (2006), of Rachid Bouchareb
