A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder” (2024) (from the London Film Festival).
Original Title: As Noites Ainda Cheiram A Pólvora.
After a flying visit to Benin in “Dahomey” we head South next for a ghostly trip to Mozambique. It’s another documentary, this one called “The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder”.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Film-maker Inadelso Cossa visits his grandmother and other relatives in a rural village who describe their experiences during the terrible civil war
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (This has not yet been rated by the BBFC. I would expect it to be at least a ’12’ and possibly a ’15’ based on its images and discussion of warfare.)
Talent:
Directed by: Inadelso Cossa.
Written by: Inadelso Cossa.
Running Time: 1h 33m.
“The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder” Summary:
Positives:
- A novel view into the frugal lives within a Mozambique hamlet.
- Some memorable characters.
Negatives:
- Presented without any context.
- Parts of it feel very ‘staged’.
Review of “The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder”:
Makes you appreciate your comfy Western life.
I have been frustrated for the last week or two by a malfunctioning network card on our LG TV. Watching a documentary like this puts our cushy lives into stark perspective. For we are not trying to till a patch of unpromising scrub. Or grubbing up roots for the family to eat. Nor have we had all of our neighbours rounded up and massacred or been given a knife and told to chop our nephew’s ears off. Or had grandpa blown up by a landmine. All things to be grateful about.
Characters.
We meet Cossa’s friend who believes he’s heard the dead talk to him from their graves and now wanders around the bush with sound equipment trying to record it. (Really? Or was he just the crew’s sound guy adding a bit of local colour?!). The pair talk about their memories of the war and of some of the nightmares that they still have.
Elsewhere, there are some real characters in the village. Firstly, there’s Cossa’s aged grandmother Elisa who seems to be a highly unreliable narrator! She on the one hand describes her husband Inácio of dying of an illness but then (reminded by her grandson) she says that he died “with one of his wives” after stepping on a landmine.
Then there is a bickering older couple Macuacua and Zalina with Macuacua jokingly (or is he?) threatening to beat his wife up if she doesn’t clap the rhythm of his dance in the right beat. At one point Macuacua leaves her (the documentary suggests for a whole year) before an emotional return. There’s something unsettling about Macuacua in general. He is clearly an ex-soldier and when you hear about the sort of atrocities carried out during the civil war you wonder whether this old man was heavily involved.
Forgiveness
One of the striking messages from the film is how forgiving the population is despite all of the terror inflicted by the FRELIMO and RENAMO forces. A common view is “they were only following orders… they didn’t even know what they were fighting for”. Elisa comments “Today we should live together in harmony”. You really wish countries at conflict would hear this message BEFORE the bloody conflicts wreck lives. (Eh Netanyahu?)
No Context
A significant issue I had with this film is that thare is no context provided at the start of the film. If there had been a simple set of title cards saying that we were in Mozambique (I had no idea until I looked it up!) and describing when the Civil War took place (1977 to 1992) and who FRELIMO and RENAMO were, that would have helped a lot.
I was also not convinced about how staged some of the segments were. At one point Eliza is asked to “do it again” as she was looking into the camera… and we see Take 1 and Take 2. This doesn’t help the feeling of being a fly on the wall!
Summary Thoughts on “The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder”
I wasn’t riveted by this one, but it did hold my interest throughout. And I feel I know just a little more about the history of Mozambique.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
At the time of writing, not available in the Justwatch app.
Trailer for “The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Z6Kka1-F0 .
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