Angola’s liberation struggle is illustrated in the fictional narrative, Sambizanga

(1972, directed by Sarah Maldoror). Set in 1961, the film is an adaptation of the prominent

MPLA (Movement for the Popular Liberation of Angola) nationalist, José Luandino Vieira’s

novel ‘A vida verdadeira de Domingos Xavier/ The True Life of Domingos Xavier’. With

themes of national revolution, the film aligns with the thoughts of the Argentinian

filmmakers/theorists, Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino. The filmmakers coined the

term ‘Third Cinema’ in their essay ‘Towards a Third Cinema’. They argue for ‘Third Cinema’

as a critique in theory and practice of both ‘First Cinema’ (Hollywood, and its global

imitators) and ‘Second Cinema’. Second cinema has been described as the “cinema of

institutionalised national culture, authorial expressivity and cinema of the middle classes”

(Wayne. 2016: 17). The tri-continental mass movement that Solanas and Getino propose,

suggests that cinemas contributions to the struggle for decolonisation is one of the

liberations of consciousness, culture and identity. Stemming from films ability to create a

“politicized audience” (Solanas, Getino. 1969: 9). ‘Third Cinema’ is therefore geared towards

the everyday life of the people struggling for decolonisation. A struggle charactered in

Sambizanga, which documents the difficulties of clandestine anticolonial activity in the fight

for Angolan independence.

MPLA guerrillas and leaders were used as actors in the film (Moorman. 2001: 109),

this was an act of defiance against the colonial state. Sambizanga exposed the horrors of

continued Portuguese rule to an international audience. Within the decade before 1961

colonial Cinema in the Angolan capital city of Luanda served the purpose of a cultural

awakening of the urban elites that revolved around cinema. Many of the early leaders of

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the MPLA (an anticolonial organisation exiled in the Democratic Republic of Congo during

the war for independence (Moorman. 2001: 110) emerged from this colonial cultural

context. Sparking the political activity that would later see Angolan cinema become a

central instrument in the project of educating postcolonial Angola, through the exploration

of national identity (Moorman. 2001: 107). Similar to the novel on which it is based,

Sambizanga focuses on the experiences of Angolans in and around Luanda, along with the

cultural context of political activity associated with the MPLA (Moorman. 2001:110). The

film chronicles Maria’s journey to locate the prison in which her husband, Domingos is being

held. Domingos, a construction worker involved in clandestine anticolonial activities.

Maldoror’s use of a female protagonist can be argued as a way of naturalising an

androcentric account of the nation. As female activity is represented as a political position

in the film (Moorman. 2001: 117). This essay will explore the intertextual overlaps of

politics, gender and national identity in Sambizanga.

The Film begins in a quarry on the outskirts of Luanda. The opening cuts between

long shots and mid close ups. The formal choice to introduce Domingos (Domingos de

Oliveira) in this context, helps to construct his character as the everyday working man.

Reflected in the film’s literary predecessor as an allegory of the nascent national

community, not that of an individual (Moorman. 2001: 116). Domingos acts as a

representative Angola (Moorman. 2001: 117). It is later revealed that Domingos and his

white boss are involved in clandestine anticolonial organising. Here, Maldoror proposes that

the issue of liberation is not one of race, but one of political ideology. Sowing for first seed

of the Marxist-Leninist themes of the film. As Domingos responds to his comrade “The

whites are our friends” and later when his political leaflet is read aloud: “hunger in our

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homes, poverty in our huts, forced labour on the road gangs. All this is due to Portuguese

colonialism.” Maldoror is drawing the audience’s attention to the mutual suffering faced by

Angolans.

A tranquil family scene follows the opening work sequence, where long shots and

mid close ups are used again to foster a sense of community. The colonial police arrive to

burst this idyllic bubble, as Domingos is arrested and taken to prison. Frantz Fanon describes

the colonial world as a world cut into two, where frontiers are shown by barracks and police

stations. Fanon’s thoughts can perhaps provide some context in this sequence as the

colonial police, can be seen as the spokesmen for the settler state. The instituted go-

betweens of the settler and its rule of oppression (Fanon. 1961: 3). The violent beating that

Domingos receives at the hands of the colonial police is shot from two opposing camera

angles. The choice of low / high- angled shots reflect the power relations between

Domingos: the oppressed, the colonial police: the representatives of the oppressing classes

(Gabriel. 2011: 200). The divergent worlds are also illustrated as Maria arrives in Luanda.

Her arrival is immediately followed by the shot of a prison yard watchtower. A possible

illustration of the colonial frontier marked by surveillance.

Domingos arrest serves as the catalyst for Maria’s (Elisa Andrade) political

awakening throughout the film. Scenes of Domingos resistance against colonial police

brutality are interwoven into Maria’s journey, with the use of parallel montage. For

example, when Maria is informed by the mother of a guerrilla activist on how she can locate

Domingos. The grief-stricken scene is paralleled with shots of the brutality, Domingos faces

on his journey to Luanda. Another example can be found near the end of the film, as Maria

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holds a vigil outside of a prison and Domingos dies as a result of police torture. This use of

parallel montage serves an ideological purpose (Gabriel. 2011: 200). As it perchance helps

to frame the brutality and sufferings of both the guerrilla activists and the everyday civilian,

at the hands of the colonial state. The connections Maria forges on her search for Domingos

help to spark her awakening of “the need to actively struggle against colonial oppression”

(Moorman. 2001: 116). It is perhaps in Maria’s political awakening that she is meant to

represent the image of the defiant Angola in the anticolonial struggle.

The Marxist-Leninist ethics of the MPLA are woven into Sambizanga. Marxism-

Leninism is an expanded adaptation of Marxism developed by Vladimir Lenin. It is Marxism

in the period of imperialism and of the proletarian revolution (D'mello. 2009:41). It

emphasised Lenin’s concept of imperialism as the final stage of capitalism and shifts the

focus of struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries. Many black Africans found

in Lenin’s theory of imperialism a powerful intellectual weapon with which to attack colonial

rule (Hughes 1992: 4). This is clearly illustrated in two key scenes within the film. Firstly, as a

tailor involved in the anticolonialism struggle, educates his comrades on Marxist analysis.

The aim of mobilizing support for the guerrilla war (Moorman. 2001: 110). Secondly, with

the use of direct address at the end of the film. Following Domimgos death, the film cuts to

a festive party scene where nationalists (male and female, as well as black and white) seem

to be refiguring relationships and roles in the context of the struggle against the coloniser.

The film seems to suggest that the work of the nation is done both by men and by women

(Moorman. 2001: 111). As Domingos death is commemorated, a speaker states “Today he

begins his real, true life, that is in the heart of the people, as a collective memory, a symbol

of community and identity as workers, and as Angolans” (Sambizanga, 1972). The use of

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direct address in this scene aligns with the ideology of ‘presenting a film as message’

(Gabriel. 2011: 200). The shift to the conventions of oral narrative allowed the film to

announce itself as a polemic comment on the state of Angola, and its need to continue to

struggle for independence.

By 1972, when Sambizanga is released, Angola was in the throes of the war for

independence. The film was shot in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the MPLA

organised in exile. Göran Olsson’s 2014 film Concerning Violence takes us into battle with

the guerrilla forces of the MPLA. The preface of Concerning Violence embraces the spirit of

‘Third Cinema’ as it assumes the ethos of representing film as a message (Gabriel. 2011:

200). The visibility of the production is made clear, as the objective reflections of the film

are announced by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. The objectives of Fanon’s Wrenched of the

earth (chapter Concerning Violence) “to use what the coloniser has developed and turn it

around in the interest of those who have been enslaved or colonised”. This spirit of

repurposing can also be found in the representation efforts of Sambizanga. Maldoror spoke

of her aim “to make Europeans, who hardly know anything about Africa, conscious of the

forgotten war in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau” (Moorman. 2001: 110). The same

named states in Concerning Violence. Maldoror’s choice of activism required her to use a

western medium in the hopes of national representation and mobilizing support for the

guerrilla war. Whilst Olsson asks that we gender our reading of these events. Suggesting

that the liberation women gain in struggle for independence is seemingly repealed once it is

won.

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 Spivak draws attention to the representation of gender and motherhood in

Concerning Violence. I would argue that motherhood is approached in a similar manner in

Sambizange. Jennifer Nash suggests that black motherhood is represented “as both a site

constituted by grief and expected loss and as a political position made visible (only) because

of its proximity to death” (Nash. 2018: 700). Concerning violence, depicts two stark images

of black motherhood. Firstly, with the icon of the black Venus, as the image bears a

resemblance to the Venus of Milo with her missing limb. It then erects another icon of the

black Madonna, as a child suckles at her breast. This image of motherhood is perhaps a

symbol of trauma and injury. A pain that can be mobilised for political ends. I would argue

that this symbol of the black Madonna can also be found in Sambizanga. When Maria

arrives in Luanda at Mame Tete’s house. Maria is grief stricken. A stranger takes her crying

baby and begins to breastfeed him. The brief close up of this moment further solidifies the

image of black motherhood as one of a shared trauma and grief.

However, motherhood is represented in a seemingly opposing manner in Asghar

Farhadi’s The Salesman (2016). Motherhood is possibly approached as a possession. A

dream that can be stolen. Illustrated in the depiction of masculinity in crisis throughout the

film. Sa’ar and Yahia-Younis have stated that “masculine identities embody tensions

between contradictory desires or practices – and are sustained and enacted by individuals,

but also by groups, institutions and cultural forms” (Sa’ar, Yahia-Younis. 2008: 307). As

Emad searches for his wife’s rapist, his grievance of this attack on his masculinity is

uncovered. The joyous prospect of a growing family is later referred to in an argument with

Babak (Babak Karimi) as something lost in the post rape reality. Constructing a

representation of motherhood as a male possession. Sa’ar and Yahia-Younis have also

7
suggested that “masculinity is embodied, which opens a space for performativity. People do

not 'have' gender. Rather, masculinities and femininities are things that people 'do'” (Sa’ar,

Yahia-Younis. 2008: 307). As Emad complains to his wife about their neighbour’s knowledge

of her rape. It is the fear that his performance of masculinity will be compromised in the

eyes of others that truly bothers him. Farhadi has spoken of his work providing international

representation for Iran. Upon receiving his Academy Award for A Separation (2011) he

speaks of Iran being "hidden [from the world] under the heavy dust of politics"(Dodd. 2016:

24). Suggesting that his country is almost exclusively discussed within the context of

aggression and hostility. But with this one film, the world was finally able to meet the real

people of Iran (Dodd. 2016: 24). Similar were Maldoror’s intention for Sambizanga. The aim

of representation for the people of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, in their wars

for independence. (Moorman. 2001: 110).

In conclusion, Sambizanga approaches the ideas of gender, politics and national

identity from a representational standpoint. The paralleled story structure allows the film to

explore the intersecting topics of Marxism and anticolonial activism through the film style of

socialist realism. The films commitments to mobilising revolutionary efforts is explored

through the often-overlooked perspective of women. Exposing the everyday oppression and

struggle the Angolan people face at the hands of Portuguese colonialism. Sambizanga is an

allegory for international representation and an instrument of national identification for the

Angolan people. With the aim to mobilising support for the MPLA decolonisation efforts as

the film promotes national solidarity. Sambizanga defies Shohat’s term a ‘Third Worldist’

narrative, as it opposes the gendered aspects of national identity, by figuring the national

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subject as female. Suggesting that women can be central to the narrative of nations and of

liberation struggles (Moorman. 2001: 117).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dodd, Christopher (2016). Motion Pictures and Television: America's Diplomatic Envoy.
Harvard International Review, 37(2), 22-27.
< http://www.jstor.org/stable/26445576> Accessed Dec. 2020
D'mello, B (2009). What Is Maoism? Economic and Political Weekly, 44(47), 39-48.
<from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25663811> Accessed Dec. 2020
Fanon, Frantz (1961) Wretched of the earth. New York: Grove Press
Gabriel, Tesholme (2011). Towards a Critical Theory of Third World Films: Journal of African
Art History and Visual Culture. 5:1, 187-203.
Hughes, A e.d (1992) Marxism’s Retreat from Africa. England: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
Wayne, Mike (2016). The Dialectics of Third Cinema from: The Routledge Companion to
Cinema and Politics Routledge.
Moorman, M. (2001). ‘Of Westerns, Women, and War: Re-Situating Angolan Cinema and
the Nation. Research in African Literatures, 32(3), 103-122.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820427>Accessed Dec. 2020
Nash, Jennifer. (2018). The Political Life of Black Motherhood. Feminist Studies, 44(3), 699-712.
doi:10.15767/feministstudies.44.3.0699
Solanas, Fernando, and Octavio Getino. (1969) TOWARD A THIRD CINEMA. Cinéaste, 4, (3),
pp. 1–10.
<JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41685716.> Accessed Dec. 2020.

Filmography
Farhadi, Asghar (2016). The Salesman
Farhadi, Asghar (2011). A Separation
Maldoror, Sarah (1972). Sambizanga
Olsson, Göran (2014). Concerning Violence

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