Sambizanga

Released Jun 1, 1973

1h 37m

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

6 Reviews

100%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A man is wrongfully arrested and tortured to death after he is suspected of being part of a revolutionary group.

Nora Sayre

New York Times

Let's hope that this impressive new director makes many sequels to her first feature film.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 4, 2011

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

It’s a simple, powerful narrative about an Angolan construction worker whose covert political activism results in brutal retribution from Portuguese colonialist authorities.

Mar 4, 2024

Full Review

Raquel Stecher

Out of the Past

poignant story... Sambizanga offers a straightforward story of familial strife and incarceration as a platform to further explore the nuances of inequality,

May 8, 2023

Full Review

Yasmine Seale

4Columns

Sambizanga is about the hardest things, but it leaves a gentle, almost honeyed flavor in its wake. Its slyest move is to show political abstractions entangled in material life...Poetics of relation are not theorized but brightly lived.

Jan 7, 2022

Full Review

Sarah Manvel

Kamera.co.uk

As with the observational style of filmmaking that burst onto the scene with Easy Rider and others in the west, Sambizanga believes that paying attention is a radical act.

Oct 31, 2021

Full Review

Jon Dieringer

Screen Slate

Once seen, never forgotten: as cinema and politics, Sambizanga is unimpeachable.

Mar 1, 2019

Full Review

Read all reviews

david l

Sambizanga is an emotionally powerful period drama set in the Angolan War of Independence. The movie is uneven in terms of editing and other technical aspects, but it's very well directed and acted while offering both the male and the female perspective of the war experience in a very refreshing, all-encompassing manner.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Sarah Maldoror

Director

Domingos Oliviera

Domingos

Elisa Andrade

Maria

Dino Abelino

Zito

Jean M'Vondo

Petelo

Benoit Moustila

Chico

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom

71%

62%

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Uptight

80%

80%

Uptight

The Spook Who Sat by the Door

77%

83%

The Spook Who Sat by the Door

Duet for Cannibals

80%

80%

Duet for Cannibals

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

83%

84%

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

A man is wrongfully arrested and tortured to death after he is suspected of being part of a revolutionary group.

Director: Sarah Maldoror
Screenwriter: Mario de Andrade, Sarah Maldoror, Maurice Pons, Luandino Vieira
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Production Co: Isabelle Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Lingala
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 1, 1973, Original
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm