Santana

I'm Portuguese and so I was curious to see this first "action film made in Angola". It is evident that the film is not well written nor has anything extraordinarily positive, but we must not forget that Angola has almost no path in the film industry. I would consider it a pioneer and demonstrate an honest will to do something that reaches the public. By the way, unfortunately, we know that corruption rules this wonderful country in Africa and that if there is a truly honest police interested in arresting criminals, there will be a lot of work ahead of them. In the middle of the film, the minister says that "we cannot jeopardize the country's reputation", which turns out to be a comic speech. Amateurism in many aspects of the film clearly compromises him but with a little effort we managed to reach the end, knowing that we are witnessing a historic work.

I enjoyed Santana and this was the first movie I watched from Angola. I love watching movies from countries that usually don't get attention for their cinema and that do not invest in this industry. It's very difficult to find movies from Africa that are not from the countries in the North of the Continent, or Nigeria or South Africa. There are some problems with this movie, but almost all of them are clearly caused because of lack of a proper budget.

Good work with many technical problems. An extremely low budget and a movie created in a country without consistent cinema culture. Imagine how you would evaluate a movie shot in Europe or USA many many decades ago. That's it. It is really a good movie considering the resources that they had available.

There is a good story being told, there are good actors, there is a good director! Obviously, the final work is not what is expected of a film that will be in Cannes or other fancy festivals! The movie delivers what is expected of a really very limited budget movie that took years to complete. It also must be analyzed from the perspective of the significance it has for the development of the country's film industry. It is not simple or easy to become a filmmaker and develop a movie in a poor and resourceless country! It's very funny when people with limited vision and precarious ability to analyze reality, watch an African film, built on a very low budget, and expect to find Hollywood quality! Lol! Last week, I watched a movie from Mozambique (Resgate). I hope netflix will make more African films available very soon. Go on guys

When you make a movie, you need to understand that you're telling a story. So, dialogue and narrative are extremely important. With that said, this is by far the worst dialogue I've seen in the past few years; I'm Angolan and I couldn't finish watching this movie.

A movie can also be a portrayal of a society. This movie also failed at that. That is not how Angolan people talk, move or act. So, what is your movie trying to accomplish really?

Now, moving forward, look to Brazillians as an example. They focus on character development and story (City of God, Tropa de Elite, etc). Focus on THAT!