The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire review – the legacy of a dissident and inspirational surrealist author

Brief film looks at the intense flowering of essays by the Caribbean feminist and anti-imperialist who saw surrealism as a revolutionary mode This brief work from New York film-maker Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich is the equivalent of a platform performance in the theatre: a look at the works of Caribbean feminist, anti-imperialist and surrealist partisan Suzanne Césaire, played by Zita Hanrot; Hanrot, rather, plays an actress musingly preparing to play her. Césaire’s brief, intense flowering of work occurred in second world war Martinique, then a colony of France, controlled by the collaborationist Vichy government. Paradoxically liberated by this oppressive situation, Césaire co-founded a journal called Tropiques and published an influential series of essays on politics, literature and art, which showed how passionately inspired she was by her encounter with the great surrealist André Breton. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/rx4iLoM via IFTTT

Gold Songs review – story of love and longing in Mozambique’s desperately dangerous goldmines

Ico Costa’s film follows a young man who leaves his sweetheart in search of better fortune in the perilous mines in the north of the country

Love heartbreakingly clashes with economic difficulties in Ico Costa’s third feature, shot on location in Mozambique and featuring non-professional actors. The film opens on a gentle moment between Domingos (Domingos Marengula) and Neusia (Neusia Emídio Guiamba), their figures wrapped in the velvety half-light of the early dawn. Lying in bed together, the young couple sleepily talk of mundane trivialities but their tender gaze seems to speak louder than words; locked in each other’s arms, the pair will soon spend the rest of the film apart.

Unsatisfied with the meagre earnings he makes from washing cars, Domingos leaves his home town for the dangerous goldmines in the north of the country. When he enters this precarious trade, the camera trails behind his footsteps as he passes through rocky terrains and makeshift tents. It’s an interesting stylistic choice that seeks to emphasise both the geographical specificity and the lethal risks of Domingos’s environment, as well as his bond with fellow workers. When seen in group compositions, the men share a moving rapport that can’t always resist the callous indifference of an exploitative industry.

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