Journey

Sleepwalking Land Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Have you read Mia Couto’s brilliant post-colonial novel Sleepwalking Land? If you haven’t and you love reading, you should check it out now. If you haven’t got time to read, you can watch the film which does a great job at translating the novel onto the big screen. Check out the film here (Amazon).

Why Watch Sleepwalking Land?

• It’s quicker than reading the book (although I recommend you read it if you have time)
• If you like post-apocalyptic style stories
• To learn about the effect of colonialism and war on Mozambique
• If you like magical realism (made famous by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

The Breakdown

Sleepwalking Land starts with an old man (Tuahir) and a young boy (Muidinga) walking down a desolate dirt track. We are not told who they are or where they are going, but we can tell they are in danger. Not because, they are being targeted, but because they are roaming a war-torn country. They hide in the bushes as a gang of men bragging about killing people walk past and then reemerge to find a burned-out bus full of dead bodies. They decide to remove the bodies and call it their temporary home.

If you’re ever read or seen Cormac McCarthy’s The Road you might recognise this environment. In both The Road and Sleepwalking Land there’s an old man and a young boy roaming a desolate land trying to survive. But contrary to The Road where we know the two protagonists are father and son, the connection between the protagonists in Sleepwalking Land is never made clear.

However, we get a clue to their past lives from a journal that Muidinga finds by the burned-out bus belonging to a man named Kindzu. Each day, they read an extra chapter of the journal and immerse themselves in Kindzu’s story. For Tuahir, Kindzu’s life probably reminds him of his past life, which he has blocked from his memory. For Muidinga, Kindzu’s life gives him a possible explanation to his past which amnesia has prevented him from remembering.

Conclusion & What to Watch Next?

Teresa Prata’s adaptation of Mia Couto’s film is a worthy of your time. The main problem it faces is cutting the novel into 90mins, so if you’ve read the book you might think that the film crams in too much in too little time.

If you want to watch more films like this with characters wandering through desolate landscapes check out the post-apocalyptic The Road, which is good but bleak. You should also check out the art-house film Mimosas following wanderers from different centuries through the Moroccan mountains and deserts.

Or if it’s great African films you’re after, check out Abouna from Chad, a story about two sons searching for their lost Dad. There’s also Timbuktu, an Academy Award nominee from Mali where you’ll see the effect of the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism on the Malian town.