User reviews

In 1998, California Newsreel, the now oldest American non-profit, social justice film distribution and production company, based in San Francisco, released Flora Gomes' "Mortu Nega", in order to commemorate three starkly dissimilar events: the 25th anniversary of the independence of Guinea-Bissau; the assassination of its leader, Amilcar Cabral; and the year that the country annihilated itself in a brutal civil war. In the catalogue description of the movie, one can read that "'Mortu Nega', as its title implies (Those Whom Dead Refused), is a unique kind of elegy-not so much to the victims of the liberation struggle as to its survivors". The title is derived from a ceremony in the movie to reconcile the living and the dead. This extraordinary ritual which is danced in the film by the National Ballet Company and several thousand volunteers is intended to drive out the forces of disunity. Hence the title of the film, which might be translated as 'Denying Death'". The California Newsreel catalogue entry also adds that "The film poses a question facing much of Africa at the start of the 21st century: with the goal of independence achieved, what can serve as an equally unifying and compelling vision around which to construct a new society?". That is thus the challenge: while the goal of independence may have brought diverse groups together in a common struggle, sustaining unity in the post-independence era requires a shared vision that goes beyond political liberation. It necessitates a comprehensive framework that addresses social, economic, and cultural dimensions, fostering inclusivity, equality, and sustainable development. While agreeing with this assessment, I am also arguing that the film poses a slightly different question: how can the vision for constructing a new society, following the achievement of independence, actively include and empower women in shaping social, economic, and cultural dimensions, promoting gender equality and ensuring their meaningful participation in governance and decision-making processes? Can the answer to this question be explained by decolonialization theory? Or, to put it a different way, can decolonization discourse explain why and how total liberation for women remains an unaccomplished goal in Guinea-Bissau? Even though "Mortu Nega" has been characterized as "trajetória de luta e de vida de Diminga, que perderá seus filhos na guerra" and as "a tale of passion unconsumed by war", I would be recommended to view this film also as a critical narrative about the shortcomings of post-colonial Guinea-Bissau.

The first fiction feature film from the small West African state of Guinea-Bissau/Guine-Bissau was released in 1988 and written and directed by Flora Gomes (his first feature length film). It's a film which begins in January 1973 during the War of Independence from Portugal (the same month Amilcar Cabral was assassinated), but continues after the war is over and the country independent, and poses the question what happens to the survivors of a war - the ones who 'death refused' - as the struggle goes on with poverty, division, drought and that symbolic war wound that just won't heal. Told largely through the character of Diminga (Bia Gomes) this is a reasonably well made comparatively female centred historical political drama about the tragedy and legacy of war, suffering and loss, but also the exaltation of a just cause, love and hope, evinced through the life saving downpour at the end. Unity, Struggle, Progress.