'Sambizanga' Screening | Ab-Anbar Archive Projections

Sambizanga
Directed by Sarah Maldoror, 1972, Angola, 97 min, Portuguese, Kimbundu and Lingala with English subtitles
Introduced by Ehsan Khoshbakht
Sambizanga is as beautiful as a Caravaggio painting. Shot in Congo, which stands in for Angola, Sambizanga follows a woman, Maria, searching for her husband, who’s been arrested for his activism in the Angolan liberation struggle in the early 1960s. The woman is defiant and untiring. She carries her child on her back. If some of the anti-colonial Third Cinema films of the 70s feel preachy now, Maldoror’s does not. She said, “I have no use for preachy militant films.” Maybe that’s why Sambizanga still feels open, and tender. Like Caravaggio, the director seems to love touch, and flickering light. Tenderness mixed with politics. Because of its visual beauty, variety of textures and affecting humanity, Sambizanga is a masterpiece. — Mark Cousins

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