Mortu Nega

Mortu Nega (English: Death Denied or Those Whom Death Refused) is a 1988 historic film by Flora Gomes, a director from Guinea-Bissau. Mortu Nega was Gomes' first feature-length film. This is the first docufiction, more precisely the first ethnofiction, from his country that shows, in an expressive and touching way,[1] the experiences of the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. This film blends contemporary history with mythology, in this case African mythology. Mortu Nega was the first film produced in independent Guinea-Bissau. Its world premiere was at the Venice Film Festival on August 29, 1988.

Mortu Nega
Directed byFlora Gomes
Produced byInstituto Nacional de Cinema da Guiné-Bissau
Screenplay byManuel Rambout Barcelos
Flora Gomes
David Lang
StarringBia Gomez
Tunu Eugenio Almada
Mamadu Uri Balde
Music byDjanun Dabo
Sidonio Pais Cuaresma
CinematographyDominique Gentil
Edited byChristiane Lack
Release date
1987
Running time
85'
CountryGuinea-Bissau
LanguageCrioulo

Synopsis

1973: Diminga accompanies a group of camouflaged soldiers who travel down a path, in the middle of the shrubland, carrying supplies to a war front near Conakry, where Diminga’s husband Sako is fighting. The country is ruined and there is death everywhere, but hope is what keeps life worth living. In the encampment where she meets Sako, Diminga does not have much time to enjoy his company. The rebels are gaining ground and they are certain that they will command victory.

1974–77: The end of the war, but not truly an end. There is a great drought across the country and life continues to be difficult. It is true that where Diminga lives, in between the crying, there are great celebrations for the end of the war. But the drought continues, Diminga has a sick husband and other fighting (mostly over rations) starts.

The film, in the words of its director, is an African parable. The colonies won their independence and eliminated Portuguese colonialism. A question that arises is about Africa’s future. As Flora Gomes suggests, Africa cannot be itself without its beliefs, its myths, its philosophy, and its culture.

Interpretation

The year the film premiered, 1988 "not only marks the 25th anniversary of the independence of Guinea-Bissau and the assassination of its leader Amílcar Cabral, it is also the year in which the country was practically annihilated by a brutal civil war” (Teresa Ribeiro, a journalist for Voice of America). The film is an “elegy, not for the victims of the war of liberation, but for its survivors."

Mortu Nega has become a cult film seen as having “no ideologies or morals. It is a love story: nervous, carnal, sensitive” (René Marx, Pariscope, March 14, 1990).

Cast
  • Bia Gomes as Diminga
  • Tunu Eugenio Almada as Sako
  • Mamadu Uri Balde as Sanabaio
  • M'Make Nhasse as Lebeth
  • Sinho Pedro DaSilva as Estin
  • Homma Nalete as Mandembo
  • Caio Leucadio Almeida as Onkono
  • Brinsam as Irene Lopes
  • Abi Cassama as Nurse
  • Ernesto Moreira as Doctor
  • Flora Gomes as Head of Sector

Technical information
  • Script – Flora Gomes, Manuel Rambault Barcellos, and David Lang
  • Production – National Film Institute of Guinea-Bissau
  • Producers – Cecília Fonseca, Odette Rosa, Nina Neves Aimée and Jacques Zajdermann
  • Photography – Dominique Gentil
  • Editing – Christiane Lack
  • Format – 35 mm film
  • Genre – historical docufiction, ethnofiction
  • Duration – 92 minutes
  • Distribution – California Newsreel

Festivals and Shows

See also

References
  1. citation needed
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