In Shadow and Act:
Rosa is an unbossed woman; from beginning to end, it’s hard to imagine what or whom she fears. On the streets, she markets herself, “a first class service with third class prices.” On the night of her abduction, she is dragged from a motel, wearing her red miniskirt and floral printed top (not unlike the woman in Ricardo Rangel’s infamous photograph, often referred to as ‘The Last Prostitute’). On that same night, Luisa is wearing a tight-fitting yellow mini-dress with black polka dots. Before she left home, her mother criticized the dress. Her retort was cool and firm, she doesn’t want to dress as if she’s been fetching water all day or sewing clothes for a husband. Suzana has no one at home to defend herself against. Her two children are left in the care of a neighbor each night that she leaves for her work as a dancer. When Suzana encounters the abducting soldier, she tries to argue her release on grounds of her stardom. When we meet Margarida and Commander Maria João, we know little about their paths to the re-education camp, only that Commander João has served her country well in the fight for independence and that both women are engaged to be married.
These are the ensemble cast of characters we meet in "Virgin Margarida," a 2012 film from veteran filmmaker Licínio Azevedo. They are amongst the dozens of women with whom we journey to Mozambique’s re-education camps of the 1970s and 80s. Through subtle but pointed foreshadowing Azevedo moves us toward an ending that is tragic on many fronts...[continue reading]
