“The traces of life that have passed. Gunpowder that turned into dust. Light that turned into shadow. And cinema that turned into a memory.”
A memory of the relatives who had gone because of tragedy slowly fades. As if, it is something taboo to reopen the old wounds. The blood will seep and flow heavily if it is open recklessly. Because of this vulnerability, this film serves as a crucial medium, acting as a bridge for dialogue with memories that have long wanted to be deeply buried.
The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder (Inadelso Cossa, 2024) acts as an elegiac bridge for Director Cossa, recounting his visit to his childhood home to revisit the past and recall the Civil War in Mozambique, which happened around 1977 to 1992. When the war escalates to its peak, the area around the village becomes a battlefield between FRELIMO and RENAMO, the rebellious army. A piece of Machamba land (land designated to grow food) is razed with landmines, and houses in the village turn into hiding places for the rebels, leaving the residents as victims. The only safe place for shelter is a small bunker covered with steel sheets and bushes on top for camouflage.
Narrating the collective memory of that Civil War, Director Cossa embraced an approach to disguise the fictional tales within those traumatic stories in some staged scenes recounted by people he met. Director Cossa also shared his personal trauma by presenting a planned interaction with his audio operator partner, Moises Langa. They discuss the sequences of fragments from the past that have haunted them through nightmares. Director Cossa also narrated the indelible trauma and memories that may manifest in a concrete form–a silence and wounds that will never heal.
A film becomes a language to articulate Cossa’s childhood trauma in triggering a reconciliation. Facing the trauma that has long haunted his family in Mozambique, he pieced together the fragments of his hometown’s history by capturing the light of the traces of people who had been gone due to bloody conflict and reconciling with the shadows left in this present time. Director Cossa also shares many stories about his late grandfather, Inácio, through a night-long dialogue with his grandmother, Maria, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, to evoke memories of her late husband that only surface when night falls. Through Maria who recounted the story of Inácio, the audience was invited to listen to the real cause of her husband’s death. However, it seems that, without being mentioned, the cause of death was clearly seen from Mary’s gestures and facial expressions when she heard Inácio’s name.
In Director Cossa’s childhood village, civil war veterans from both the rebel faction and the government supporters coexisted in a silent atmosphere. Director Cossa meets Macuacua, a former rebel soldier currently spending the rest of his life with his wife, Zalina, and grandchildren. The violence that separated Macuacua and Zalina also eventually brought them back together in their old age. However, the violence lingered as a painful reminder of the longing that had tormented Zalina when Macuacua left for battle, uncertain if he would return. On the other hand, there was also Elisa who experienced an unpleasant incident with RENAMO rebels who took her and her niece hostage. What a paradox that Elisa now lived in the same neighborhood as Macuacua, a former rebel soldier. It seems that the smell of the blood will never fade as long as those who have died remain mourning without consolation.
The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder (2024) is a testament to the resilience of human collective memory to past events and their impact on daily life. An image and feeling of all kinds of experiences that can be felt through words, sounds, and human senses that appear in the pattern of human life. For everything that dances over the rest of the war, may all the lost find redemption. (Gantar Sinaga) (Ed. Vanis/Trans. Shafira Rahmasari)
Film Details
The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder (As Noites Ainda Cheiram a Pólvora)
Inadelso Cossa | 92 Min | 2024 | France, Germany, Mozambique, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal
Official Selection for Perspektif
Festival Film Dokumenter 2024
Screening Schedule
Nov. 5 | 15:40 WIB | Militaire Societeit, TBY
