From Italian political cinema to Angolan anti-colonial cinema

Sambizanga, by Sarah Maldoror, and neorealism

Abstract

This article aims to propose a connection between the film Sambizanga (1972), a milestone of Angolan anti-colonial cinema directed by Sarah Maldoror, and certain tendencies in Italian cinema. It seeks to establish parallels with The Battle of Algiers (1966) by Gillo Pontecorvo, as well as earlier works from the origins of Italian neorealism — an aesthetic movement that revolutionized filmmaking and had a profound impact, particularly on poorer nations, known in the 1960s and 70s as the Third World. Therefore, Sambizanga is also compared to films by Roberto Rossellini, such as Rome, Open City (1945) and Germany, Year Zero (1948), aiming to understand, through the aesthetic and political shift represented by these films, the principles of political cinema that opposed the colonialism still present in certain African countries (notably Lusophone ones), in which Sambizanga stands as a foundational work.