"Hello guys,
..... my organisation is having a fundraising film event tomorrow evening. It's the first film by a female Angolan director, see the below link:
http://www.
We'll be meeting for drinks beforehand at All Bar One in Notting Hill..... It's £10 but £8 for us students!!!
Would be lovely to see you there, but I know it's short notice!
Love Annie x "
It was close to 8 pm when I arrived at the Coronet Cinema. I bought my ticket and then met up with Annie and Latifur at the All Bar One. The movie hall was rather huge with its interiors in dark shade of pink (almost reddish). Resembled more of a theatre hall than a movie hall I thought. So the movie was called Na Cidade Vazia (Portugese for Hollow City).
We followed the story of a young boy, N'dala (played by Roldan Pinto João) from a village, Bie , fleeing the war in Angola who was rescued along with other children by a nun and brought to Luanda by plane. But he hid and avoided going with the other children to where the nun was taking them.We followed his short adventure that he took in the city, all the time his face conveying that sweet innocence that is always a victim of war in the most tragic of ways. I felt happy when N'dala's new found friend, Zé, decided to help find a place for him to sleep. I was laughing when an older intoxicated woman pulled young N'dala to dance Kizomba with her. I was deeply touched by his purity when he tells Zé that he wants to go to Bie to see his parents (who were killed). Zé asked how can he see them when they are already dead, to which N'dala replied "I will see them in the sky in Bie, for the nun told me that they are in the sky".
The ending was tragic, but has conveyed the message. I felt the movie spoke out loud against the injustice that children suffered due to war and portrayed how easy it is to manipulate a child's mind. N'dala's bright eyes and awe-struck expressions will stay in my memory for a long time.
We followed the story of a young boy, N'dala (played by Roldan Pinto João) from a village, Bie , fleeing the war in Angola who was rescued along with other children by a nun and brought to Luanda by plane. But he hid and avoided going with the other children to where the nun was taking them.We followed his short adventure that he took in the city, all the time his face conveying that sweet innocence that is always a victim of war in the most tragic of ways. I felt happy when N'dala's new found friend, Zé, decided to help find a place for him to sleep. I was laughing when an older intoxicated woman pulled young N'dala to dance Kizomba with her. I was deeply touched by his purity when he tells Zé that he wants to go to Bie to see his parents (who were killed). Zé asked how can he see them when they are already dead, to which N'dala replied "I will see them in the sky in Bie, for the nun told me that they are in the sky".
The ending was tragic, but has conveyed the message. I felt the movie spoke out loud against the injustice that children suffered due to war and portrayed how easy it is to manipulate a child's mind. N'dala's bright eyes and awe-struck expressions will stay in my memory for a long time.
This picture is a scene from the movie, N'dala with his friend Zé sharing stories. Zé's role as a gentle caring person is well portrayed by Domingos Fernandes Fonseca. He also exudes hope of a brigter future and this message is delivered (in the movie) through his pursuit of education. A well chosen movie by those in AET who screened and selected the movie from many others.
I got some information about the director of the movie from the internet:
Maria João Ganga (born in Huambo, Angola, 1964) attended the ESEC Film School in Paris. She was assistant director on several documentaries, including ROSTOV-LUNDA by Abderrahmane Sissako. She has also written and directed for theatre. Hollow City (Na Cidade Vazia) is the first full length movie directed by Maria João Ganga which was released in 2003. The film is one of the first to be produced in Angola since the end of the civil war and the first film produced by an Angolan woman. Filming was done on location in Angola in the capital city of Luanda. International versions of the film are in the Portuguese language with English and French subtitles.
No comments:
Post a Comment