Just like war reporters, filmmaker Inadelso Cossa and his boom operator, Moises Langa, embed themselves in one of the many villages that were scarred by Mozambique’s violent civil war, another undiscussed bloody chapter of Cold War proxy conflicts in Africa.
Since the war, there have been dozens of humanitarian campaigns in the region to de-mine areas where pro- and anti-communist forces left mines for each other. Cossa is also de-mining, in his own way. In The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder, he does this not with bulldozers and mine-sweepers, but rather using his camera, questions, and old photos of himself and his family.
Cossa was a child during the civil war between the country’s ruling socialist Frelimo party and the insurgent anti-communist group Renamo. Nevertheless, the war left its mark on him. He tries to understand this by revisiting his grandmother’s village, which is a micro-image of post-conflict Mozambique. The war is physically not present — that was a long time ago, many say. But for village residents, victims, former rebel fighters and civilians, the war is still taking place in their traumas and memories. That, however, does not deny them their efforts to heal and coexist.
The film’s narrative is fragmented, jumping from character to character. Traditionally, in this kind of documentary, Cossa would have been at the center of the story, observing the ways different villagers are reflecting on their war traumas and the kind of loss they suffered. But here, Cossa is also one of the protagonists as he, too, attempts to process his own past and its harsh realities. In one scene he talks to the children of two farmers who witnessed the war. He asks the kids if they can escape the trauma of violence, something he wished on himself and did not get. Despite being a child at the time of the war, he encountered conflict in the eyes and soul of his grandmother, Maria Estevão.
His interviews with her are sometimes awkward, as she suffers from Alzheimer’s and is unable to put her loss into words. But the awkwardness is not in her memory loss so much as her inability to allow herself vulnerability. This society-imposed silence is what her grandson is trying to call out and defy. He asks her to remember how she felt when his grandfather died in a mine explosion, and how she lived her life afterwards as a widow. She reveals that she had to bury a lot of her husband’s belongings along with his body (a tradition that Cossa was not aware of), showing how deeply some societal rituals advocate letting go of all past memories.
Displaying their vulnerability is what Cossa enables all his protagonists to do: to tell their own stories, not in a straightforward documentary-interviews manner, but using their own kinds of expression, monologues, songs, everyday interactions with family members, or reenacting intimate moments of despair, longing for a loved one, or resilience.
Many parts of the film take place at night, in beautiful shots showing how silence can be a blessing, but can also be the background to insomnia and unresolved trauma. Night is when Cossa and Moises exchange their thoughts. Moises symbolizes the cinematic tools Cossa is bringing to the village.
The film requires patient viewing as it departs from traditional aesthetics of post-war African countries. It evolves into a sensory voyage, where the audience is invited to listen closely and experience the smell of gunpowder, the touch of long-suppressed emotions.
The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder is perfect programming for the Berlinale Forum, which describes its selection as “defined by the filmmakers’ stance towards their medium rather than the question of what commercial potential a film may have.” Considering the ongoing conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, war traumas will unfortunately continue to be a hot topic. Cossa’s film is a credible source for understanding this.
Director, screenwriter: Inadelso Cossa
With: Inadelso Cossa, Maria Estevão, Moises Langa, Macuacua, Zalina, Elisa
Producers: Thomas Kaske, Emilie Dudognon, Inadelso Cossa
Co-Producers: Frank Hoeve, António Câmara Manuel, Elisa Fernanda Pirir, Ragna N. Midtgard, Birk Hanum
Cinematography: Inadelso Cossa
Editing: Tomás Baltazar, Inadelso Cossa
Sound Design: Taco Drijfhout
Sound: Moises Langa
Production companies: IDA.IDA., Kaske Film, DuplaCena, BALDR Film, STÆR, Filmreaktor, 16mm filmes (MZ)
World sales: Syndicado Film Sales
Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Forum)
93 minutes
