‘Amandla! a Revolution in Four-Part Harmony’ is a touching film about the apartheid times in South Africa. It is a very powerful realistic description of the lives of blacks and whites living in the society at the time. The main focus of the film, however, is the power and use of music in the Revolution Movement.
Throughout the film, different songs used in the Revolution are presented and their origins explained. The songs are based on a typical African four-part harmony and sang by the blacks as they start to rebel against the apartheid. The film illustrates how music gave energy and will to the people, how it united them and how the people felt that the songs were an effective medium in getting their voices heard in fighting against the whites. The are instances in the film that highlight how white politicians were deeply affected by the lyrics of the songs and how some freedom fighters who wrote the songs were consequently imprisoned or even hanged.
The film is more of a documentary than a film. A number of well-regarded South African musicians, actors and actresses, politicians and freedom fighters feature. Nelson Mandela is portrait as their hero. They all talk about the realities of the those times from their own perspectives, but also by reflecting on the wider political picture. The film starts off from a time before the apartheid, follows the implementation of the racial policies, the beginning of the Revolution movement and leads us to see the liberation of the blacks.
This film really opens one’s eyes to the cruel realities of the apartheid and how it affected the lives of millions of people. For anyone interested in knowing more about it, check this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amandla!
No comments:
Post a Comment