A Storm Was Coming starts with a still shot of the landscape of Equatorial Guinea. Slowly, the landscape becomes more and more overexposed until the shot is completely whitewashed and the landscape has disappeared. This visual example of whitewashing to start A Storm Was Coming is a style that director Jose Fernandez Vasquez uses throughout the film to represent the Spanish Empire’s eradication of the culture of Equatorial Guinea.

The Spanish Empire controlled Equatorial Guinea until 1968. As presented by the Spanish texts from the Francoist era which are read in the film, their rule was benevolent. Colonialism and the power structures it left ensured that an indigenous voice didn’t arise to challenge the Spanish hegemony. This one sided history is represented throughout the film through the scenes of a white man recording Spanish history and the lack of indigenous representation.

Scenes of a white Spanish man in a recording studio reading passages from bibliographies of Spanish colonists make up the bulk of A Storm Was Coming. The passages, which are being recorded in a studio in Madrid, present a one sided view of the history of Equatorial Guinea from the capital of the colonizers. These scenes are visually supported by images of different Spanish missions in Equatorial Guinea appearing out of a blank screen, as if they’re appearing on white photographic paper processed in the photographic darkroom. Their appearance from nothing, perpetuates the controversial colonial viewpoint that colonialism ‘civilized’ their colonies, providing infrastructure, culture, and history. It’s a viewpoint that erases all pre-colonial history, as if nothing of significance existed before the colonists’ arrival. The director combines images of Spanish missions appearing from ‘nothing’ with the reading of Spanish colonial texts to demonstrate the Spanish hegemony of written, aural, and visual Equatoguinean history.

Whilst the voices of Spanish colonists are being preserved, the voices of the colonized have been lost. We hear from a few Bubi people (one of the indigenous groups in Equatorial Guinea), but we never see them on screen. They tell us about Esaasi Eweera, a Bubi leader who tried to resist the Spanish Empire. He’s a heroic leader in their eyes, but his resistance is diminished in Spanish texts. As a result, he has almost disappeared from history, just as the place of his birth has disappeared under overgrown bush. Furthermore, whilst the film spends a lot of time documenting the Spanish voices in Madrid and showing images of Spanish missions, the only pictures of native Equatoguinean people are flashed onto the screen for less than half of a second. Their lack of representation emphasizes how the Spanish rule has lasted visually and aurally, seared onto the minds of the native and Spanish people. In contrast, the Bubi have disappeared from the past and present; they don’t even appear in the film.

Well, at least until the very last scene. To prevent enforcing the Spanish narrative the film reveals, the director, a Spanish filmmaker himself, ends A Storm Was Coming with a face on interview with Bubi scholar Justo Bolekia Boleká. It’s the first time the director shows a native Equatoguinean on screen, giving him more respect than the other characters with a face to face interview. It’s also the first time we hear the Bube language. Ending with Justo Bolekia Boleká and his daughter reciting a Bubi poem in Bube, reveals one thing the Spanish couldn’t eradicate: memory. It’s an ending statement that shows that Bubi culture still survives, despite the Spanish cultural and historical hegemony which still holds power today.


Watched on Festival Scope Pro. This film screened at the Berlinale Forum 2020.

Between Fences Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

One of the best ways to understand someone else is to walk in their shoes. So, put yourself in the shoes of an African refugee for an hour and a half and watch Between Fences. You will learn about why some people are fleeing war and dictatorships in Africa. You will also learn how refugees are treated in other countries. Then debate whether we can do more to help others across the world.

Why Watch Between Fences?
  • Put yourself in a refugee’s shoes
  • Find out how refugees are treated in Israel
  • How would you spend a year without TV or entertainment?
  • Learn how art can help people to understand other people
The Breakdown

Between Fences starts with a man drawing on a wall full of graffiti. He draws a long snake across the wall. He is one of the many asylum seekers from Africa (mostly Eritrea and Sudan) that has ended up in Israel.

These refugees are all held/imprisoned at a detention centre in the Negev desert near the Egyptian border. They are not allowed to leave sight of the HOLOT detention centre. They are not allowed to go to any Israeli city to live a normal life as they are considered ‘dangerous.’ Even though Israel is a member of the UN and are required to accept refugees, the refugees were told that the human rights are “just on paper” and the UN membership is just “for the photo op”. There is clearly something wrong with their treatment.

The film-makers encourage the imprisoned African refugees to act out their history for some relief from the boredom of life in HOLOT. The refugees act out how the war and dictatorships they are fleeing from at home. They also act out their experiences with border enforcement and life in Israel. Interestingly, the directors also get some Israelis in to act with the refugees. In these parts the Israelis play the refugees and the refugees play the Israeli guards. It allows both groups to put themselves in each others shoes.

Conclusion

Between Fences provides a unique insight into the lives of the African refugees held at detention centres in the Israeli desert. The acting gives the prisoners short breaks from their dull life in the detention centres and allows us to see how they have been treated in Africa and Israel. A great film to watch for a better understanding of refugees by putting us into a refugees shoes.

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The Load Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

If you’re looking for a fun road movie like Thelma and Louise or Y Tu Mama Tambien, you’ve come to the wrong place. The Load is a brutal depiction of a country traumatised by war – it’s not a place where humour exists. There are no bright colours and no sweeping landscape shots. No one really knows what they’re doing, and there aren’t any dreams.

From: Serbia, Europe
Watch: Trailer
Next: Shok, The Trader, Mardan
Continue reading “The Load – A Road Trip Through Serbia’s Wasteland”
Rey Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

If you love films about mad historical characters then check out Rey. It follows the unlikely story of Orelie-Antoine de Tounens, a French country lawyer who ventures to Chile in 1858 to unite the Mapuche. If you liked the madness of Aguirre or Apocalypse Now check this art-house flick now! I recommend watching the trailer below to see if you can handle it!

Why Watch Rey?
  • It took 7 years to make – director Niles Atallah even buried the 16mm film footage in his back garden to artificially age it
  • If you want a Quixotic version of the Herzogian madmen (see Aguirre or Apocalypse Now)
  • It stretches the boundaries of film by playing with myth, memory, and history
  • To feel like you’re in one of the world’s last wildernesses
The Breakdown

Rey begins with a Frenchmen who landed on the coast of Chile in 1858. According to legend he traveled to the end of the South American continent to create his own kingdom. He united the tribes from the region and proclaimed himself king.

If you think it already sounds mythic, the film’s experimental style makes it seem even more unbelievable. We first meet the self proclaimed king standing alone in the wilderness shrouded in mist. After the mist clears, he declares himself ‘the king of water’ as water magically flows from his hands into a pool of water below him.

The unusual images don’t stop there either. Later on, when he is on trial, all the characters involved in the trail are wearing paper-mache masks. The masks could signify the character’s lost connection with the true history of the continent (they refuse to acknowledge the tribes in the south). Or that they use the masks to hide their true history, which is ultimately wiped out.

Is Rey an allegory of colonialism?

As the French lawyer narrates how he came to South America, we are shown images of ships landing and western looking men riding horses. He describes how he ‘flew across the sea’ and immediately ‘felt the spirit of the land.’ Layering his narration over the images of westerners arriving is an allegory to the colonizers who came across the seas centuries before. He like them, has come to take control of the land. In his case, he ventures south in an attempt to unite and lead the Mapuche tribes. In doing so, he brings the last autonomous region in Chile into the spotlight. Ultimately, he is the tribes downfall.

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Conclusion

Rey is one of the experimental films that works well. It pieces together the beginning of the end for the last autonomous tribes in Chile through the unbelievable character of Orelie-Antione de Tounens. It’s a creative depiction of a enigmatic character that fuses myth, memory, and history to tell an unlikely story.

For more similar (but easier to watch) films of enigmatic characters in Southern America, check out Aguirre and The Lost City of Z. Or if it’s a good jungle film you’re after, check out The Embrace of the Serpent and Apocalypse Now.

Impression of a War Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

You probably know who Pablo Escobar is and what he did. You also may know about the war that has raged on in Colombia across the last several decades. While the wars have ceased, the mist of violence still remains. In Impression of a War you’ll see that violence still lingers in Colombia. It is hidden in the landscapes, the music, and the people of Colombia. This film will show you where to look.

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Why Watch Impression of a War?
  • You’ve seen Narcos and possibly Colours of the Mountain and Maria Full of Grace and want to see a more experimental look at the legacy of violence in Colombia
  • It’s a kaleidoscope of images showing how violence has permeated all aspects of life in Colombia
  • To see Colombian soldiers shooting at guerillas one minute, and dancing salsa the next
  • It’s a Silver Leopard winner at the Locarno Film Festival
The Breakdown

The river of Medellin has changed colours many times in it’s contemporary history as textile factories up river dumped excess dye into the river. One time the factory chucked bucket loads of red dye into the river turning the whole river red. This happened at the height of Escobar’s violence in Medellin and as a result, the media turned this blood red river into a symbol of the cities violence.

This anecdote is one example of the violence entrenched in Colombian society. An entrenchment that cannot see a river coloured red by red dye, but a river soaked in blood.

Impression of a War is a work of art that tries to cast a subjective gaze at the legacy of violence in Colombia. Restrepo (the director) captures any visible trace of violence in the daily lives of the people living in Colombia. He shows us images from the battlefields, images from the landscape (as above), and interviews with those affected by the violence.

All these traces, whether deliberate or accidental, constitute the raw material for Impression of a War.

Conclusion

This 30 minute documentary covers a lot. Violence has affected everything from the colour of the taxis to the cities music. Will the new generation be freed from this legacy?