Flame Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
You might have seen Saving Private Ryan or Apocalypse Now but how many female fronted war films have you seen? Flame follows two young women who leave their rural village to join the Zimbabwean fight for liberation. However, their fight isn’t just for an independent Zimbabwe free from colonial influence, but also a fight for female liberation from the abuse and subjugation of the patriarchy.
From: Zimbabwe, Africa
Watch: YouTube, Kanopy, Rent on Vimeo
Next: Lucia, War Witch, Battle of Algiers
The Breakdown
Flame starts with a brief recap of modern Zimbabwean history. In 1890 white settlers arrived in the area. The white settlers took more and more land until the indigenous people launched a war of resistance. The white settlers won the war and founded the country of Rhodesia. In the 1970s the indigenous people launched a war of liberation from what was effectively a British colony. They won the war in the 1980s and founded the country of Zimbabwe.
The narrative starts with an awkward reunion of two female soldiers 15-20 years after the war. Flame (also Florence), after reminiscing about her experiences in the war with her daughter travels to the city to meet her old friend and fellow soldier. However, her old friend has moved on. She’s now working in an office as an assistant to a man, chooses not to recognize Flame (who’s in traditional dress unlike the suit she is wearing), and is embarrassed when Flame reveals to her boss where she’s from. She has managed to escape from the poverty that Flame and her grew up in whereas Flame, as shown in the film, is trapped in a cycle of poverty and subjugation at the hands of men.
It’s after this awkward reunion that the film jumps back in time to depict their experiences growing up in a rural town and how they got involved in the war for liberation from the white settlers.
A female fronted war film
How many female fronted war films have you seen? Then count the number of male fronted war films you’ve seen. You’ll probably end up with 10x more male fronted war films than female fronted war films depending on how many films you’ve seen. Then consider how many Zimbabwean films you’ve seen and you’ll start to understand how rare and important this film is.
Because it’s a female fronted war film, it doesn’t just depict the war for liberation from white settlers, but also the war for female liberation from male patriarchy. All throughout the film there are examples of sexism and patriarchy that hold the two girls back.
Both girls are accepted into the rebel forces, but are only treated equally (fed and respected) once they’ve demonstrated how they can help the war of liberation (hint: by fighting as well as or better than the men). Even then, Flame is always held back by men. She is hit by her father, raped by the male leader she admired, and stuck in a cycle of trusting the men who give her attention. In contrast, Liberty (her friend who later becomes an office assistant) is always wary of men and chooses to focus on her studies.
Liberty and Flame’s roles are a bit cliched – one studies hard and becomes successful, and the other follows men and becomes stuck to them – but the film presents them as each necessary to each others existence. Similar to the problem of evil (good cannot exist without evil and vice versa), Liberty cannot exist without Flame. Flame forces her to become independent by dragging her away from her home to join the resistance. Flame also absorbs all of the male attention and becomes spokesperson for both of them whenever they are questioned. Without Flame, Liberty would have never left the village. Flame plays her role to help Liberty walk the path to a better future for women, a future with wealth, freedom, and independence.
What to Watch Next
Lucia from Cuba is another great female fronted war film to check out. It take place in three different periods of Cuba’s history: The Cuban War of Independence, living under the dictatorship of Machado and life following the Cuban revolution. In each period, you follow a different woman named Lucia. It’s stylish and more progressive than most films you’ll see today.
War Witch is another African war film to watch. Like Beasts of No Nation it follows a child taken from their family to become a child soldier fighting in an anonymous African war. However, instead of following a young boy, War Witch follows a young girl who’s protected because she’s believed to have magical powers.
Or if you want to watch a revolutionary film with more revolutionary action, check out Battle of Algiers. It tracks the guerilla war for Algerian independence and presents it as if it’s a documentary. It’s one of the best.
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