Paper short abstract:

The paper will discuss two solidarity documentaries that were shot by Soviet film crews in the liberated areas of Angola and Mozambique in 1970 and 1971 during the independence struggles of the MPLA and FRELIMO. By analysing both films, I demonstrate parallel narratives depicted on film, and the balance between the aim to represent the militant voices of African men and women and the filmmakers’ own view of the anti-colonial liberation struggles.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will discuss two solidarity documentaries that were shot by Soviet film crews in the liberated areas of Angola and Mozambique in 1970 and 1971 during the independence struggles of the MPLA and FRELIMO: Guerrilla Trails of Angola and Viva Frelimo! In the early 1970s, a group of Soviet journalists and cinematographers was secretly sent to these liberated areas to bring back a message about the local liberation struggles to the Soviet audience back home. Both films were made at a time when the USSR had decided to go public about its military assistance to the Lusophone liberation movements and thus mark an important moment in the history of the Cold War. Produced at famous Soviet studios in the genre of war solidarity documentaries (Djagalov, 2020), both films reflect a striking combination of various military narratives. The Soviet voiceover inscribes the liberation struggle of MPLA into the Great Patriotic War narrative, reinforcing this effect by means of music taken from Soviet war films. While the African militant voice is depicted in silent scenes of lessons at the shooting ranges, attacks on Portuguese garrisons, and reconnaissance guerrilla trips, the focus on the establishment of peaceful life in the liberated areas is crucial in both cases. By analysing both films, I demonstrate parallel narratives depicted on film, and the balance between the aim to represent the militant voices of African men and women and the filmmakers’ own view of the anti-colonial liberation struggles.