Synopsis
Domingos is a member of an African liberation movement, arrested by the Portuguese secret police, after bloody events in Angola. His wife goes from a prison station to another, trying in vain to find out where he is.
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Sambizanga
Cast
Director
Producer
Writers
Original Writer
Editor
Cinematography
Studio
Countries
Primary Language
Spoken Languages
Alternative Titles
Замбизанга, 桑比赞加, 삼비장가
Genre
Releases by Date
Premiere
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Tunisia
Carthage Film Festival
22 Jun 1973
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Germany
Berlin International Film Festival
01 May 1999
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USA
New York African Film Festival
27 Oct 2007
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UK
Edinburgh Africa in Motion
01 Sep 2021
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Portugal
IndieLisboa International Film Festival
04 Oct 2021
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USA
New York Film Festival (Restored Version)
12 Oct 2021
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UK
BFI London Film Festival (4K Restoration)
11 Mar 2022
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France
Cinéma du Réel
10 Nov 2022
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UK
FilmBath Festival
20 Nov 2022
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France
Festival des 3 Continents (Restored Version)
Theatrical
26 Apr 1973
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France
21 Nov 1973
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USANR
19 Oct 1974
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Portugal
27 Aug 2022
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USANR
Digital
26 Apr 2023
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Germany
TV
25 Sep 1974
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Sweden
Releases by Country
France
26 Apr 1973
- Theatrical
11 Mar 2022
- Premiere Cinéma du Réel
20 Nov 2022
- Premiere Festival des 3 Continents (Restored Version)
Germany
22 Jun 1973
- Premiere Berlin International Film Festival
26 Apr 2023
- Digital MUBI
Portugal
19 Oct 1974
- Theatrical
01 Sep 2021
- Premiere IndieLisboa International Film Festival
Sweden
25 Sep 1974
- TV
Tunisia
30 Sep 1972
- Premiere Carthage Film Festival
UK
27 Oct 2007
- Premiere Edinburgh Africa in Motion
12 Oct 2021
- Premiere BFI London Film Festival (4K Restoration)
10 Nov 2022
- Premiere FilmBath Festival
USA
21 Nov 1973
- TheatricalNR New York City, New York
01 May 1999
- Premiere New York African Film Festival
04 Oct 2021
- Premiere New York Film Festival (Restored Version)
27 Aug 2022
- TheatricalNR Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (4K Restoration)
Popular reviews
More-
Sambizanga é o nome de um bairro periférico e operário em Luanda, Angola, onde se localizava uma prisão da ditadura colonial portuguesa. Um assalto a essa prisão, em 1961, constituiu o primeiro ato coordenado de sublevação armada contra os portugueses. O filme pretende mostrar a participação das mulheres na luta pela libertação, por meio do ponto de vista de Maria. Ela, já em Luanda, busca incansavelmente por seu marido, Domingos, um trabalhador exemplar preso por razões políticas e torturado até morrer.
O longa-metragem busca evidenciar a crueldade da polícia política portuguesa e o sadismo dos seus agentes. Apesar dos acontecimentos girarem em torno da prisão de Domingos, a grande força do filme está na presença de sua mulher, Maria, e…
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On the strength and resilience to endure under colonial violence. A political film that comunicates everything through its actors presences.
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Made before the Angolan War of Independence had concluded, and not released in Portugal until it had been ejected from Angola, Sarah Maldoror's Sambizanga explores the seeds of that war, with a particular focus on the quiet, pervasive resilience of women.
Though men are the most visible actors in fomenting the nascent revolution — it is they who secretly talk; who plan; who seek out information — it is the women who keep it going. Whereas the men we see have chosen to take action against their colonialist occupiers, the women move forward simply as a matter of course; whereas the men are compelled to speak about their actions and their sorrow, the women simply live it, both in isolation…
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Tear ducts drained; eyes swollen shut. A vow of insurrection, implicit but understood. No storm shall rage for so long, blocking out the sun until the clouds have finally divided, after all the rain has turned to acid. Children shriek and mothers fight for freedom; men hold fast in the face of a monster, confronting the bloodthirsty rapids of the rivers of Babylon, resisting the urge to cave. Solidarity is to oppose, to endure, to overcome. Don’t drink the water.
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The copy I had of this was atrocious: lines down the middle of it, white subtitles on white backgrounds, random blackouts, random flashes of color... and yet, it was still a compelling and interesting film. Despite its grainy quality, the tale of a laborer accused of sedition, who is beaten, imprisoned, and tortured, and the story of his wife's attempts to find him. This is told amidst actual dissenters' close observations of the situation and attempts to help.
The film isn't subtle--it comes off as blatant propaganda--but it is effective. The story is based in fact, and like Russia's great propagandists before it, it roots the start of the uprising against oppression in human origins tinted with the flavor of…
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This is an all out onslaught on a culture that is trying to expose the problems on corrupt capitalism from Orwellian logic that pushes the can down the road in defaulting to another corridor of corruption. Visually this looks great with some remarkable shots that are stunning plus is beautifully restored and has some smart angles to achieve a real strong sentiment of injustice without being to heavy handed. really look out for this Angolian gold mine cause it's smart savvy in a cold demeanor. Definitely worth the watch.
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When the State criminalizes the very poetry of life, from a baby's step to the shimmering glints of a father's napping back, what other options are left to the fugitive and the colonized other than out-and-out cultural warfare, refusing what is handed down, the eventual triumph of yellows and joy against monochromes and mourning?
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A leader of the resistance interrupts a celebration to announce to the crowd that a member of the movement, Domingos, has been murdered. Another crime to be added to the countless atrocities committed by their colonizers. He tells the crowd:
Do not cry over his death. Today Domingos begins his life in the hearts of Angola’s people.
He nods to the band, and the music starts up once more. The camera pulls back to reveal the crowd beginning to dance again. Mourning intertwined with joy. A spirit that will not be broken.
Suddenly, the film cuts from singing and dancing to images of rushing water. The unstoppable current of a river. This single edit says it all.
What a powerful…
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O motor da história é a luta de classes. Também da história de Maria, Domingos e Angola. Maria põe-se em movimento em busca de seu marido em razão da repressão colonial. Uma busca que lembra muito o que os Dardenne fizeram em Dois Dias, Uma Noite. Entretanto, enquanto os belgas dão à personagem de Marion Cotillard uma desesperança depressiva, Sarah Maldoror dá a Maria uma potência onde não cabe esperança ou qualquer outro sentimento que não ódio. O ódio move.
Ao assistir Sambizanga, The Flower Girl (Pak Hak; Choe Ik-Gyu) também se revela. Curioso que sejam dois filmes de caráter revolucionário com semelhanças estruturais lançados no mesmo ano. Em ambos temos uma família que sofre com a repressão colonial; que veem um membro querido da família sendo arrancados de si pelos aparelhos de violência de classe da colônia. Ainda que o final dos personagens sejam diferentes o destino da classe é o mesmo: Vitória.
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domingos xavier, after being imprisoned for his involvement in revolutionary activity, is held in jail. the sweat off his tortured muscles lightly glistens in the solitude of the jail cell. the door opens -- he does not move, and a cup is placed between the crook of his thighs. the door closes -- he reaches inside the cup, grasps the tiny square of something, a bit of paper, unfolds it a bit, then sticks it into his mouth, eating the words written upon it. a narrator suddenly speaks within the cell's silence: "be brave, comrade. don't tell them anything, they don't know anything. be brave." the delicate tactility of the scene describes the pure essence of revolutionary struggle against colonial powers: the individual determination united with collective solidarity, how a singular willingness to deny power allows one to have a mastery over it, to use one's imprisonment to inspire others to act freely.
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A song for the dead. Sambizanga is a film of African struggle and African unity. It is about the brutality of colonialism and the strength of community in opposition to that. There are three stories in Sambizanga. There is the story of Domingos, a revolutionary inspired and imprisoned. There is the story of Maria, his wife, searching for her husband. Finally there is the story of the revolutionaries, looking for information and the opportunity to free Angola. These represent the people, the men, women, and children affected by revolution and destined to be involved in it. The film shows the role everyone can play in revolution, the simple unity of compassion and giving help when it is asked.
Communal unity…
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1st Sarah Maldoror
A work of great dignity in the face of colonial oppression, beautifully rendered despite the lousy quality of the print. Despite being the tragic story of a woman searching for her husband from prison to prison while he suffers on trumped-up charges, there's a strong sense of community and solidarity between the Angolan natives. Their political self-organisation, encompassing all ages, aids our lead in her attempt to find her husband and offer her consolation when his arrest first happens. A group of women come to her house and sit around her, muttering quiet words of encouragement and sympathy while they tend to her child and smoke their pipes. Even the ending, a moment flooded with tears, has optimism at the eventual overthrow of the colonial powers that oppress them. A great piece of resistance cinema.
