Mueda, Memória e Massacre (Mueda, Memory and Massacre)

Ruy Guerra's MUEDA, MEMORIA E MASSACRE depicts a public reenactment of the events of Mueda on June 16, 1960, when Portuguese soldiers opened fire on a crowd of protesters, killing hundreds of people. The massacre is now considered the catalyst for the anti-colonialist struggle in Mozambique's history, and was commemorated in popular stage plays as early as 1968, while the war of liberation (1964–74) was still going on. The reenactment filmed by Ruy Guerra was one of the first after independence and took place at the original location in Mueda. It represents not only the brutality of the colonial power, but also the ignorance and ridiculousness of its representatives, as well as the shameful role of the local collaborators. In order to achieve the desired didactic effect, the fictional scenes of the reenactment in the film were supplemented by commentary from eyewitnesses and frames of explanatory text. MUEDA, MEMORIA E MASSACRE was a production by the newly founded national film institute (INAC – Instituto Nacional de Audiovisual e Cinema) and made in the context of the political educational work of the new government of Samora Machel. Ruy Guerra, who was born in Mozambique, had previously returned from his exile in Brazil in order to take over the directorship of the INAC. As one of the leading figures of the Brazilian Cinema Novo, he had contributed to the development of a political avant-garde cinema and now found himself confronted with the programmatic expectations for cinema of a post-colonial state apparatus. Through its ambivalent, even contradictory form, the film also speaks to the different expectations for a cinema of decolonization.