The Movie Sankofa Themes

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Recommended: How women of color are portrayed in film

Sankofa, a captivating film by Haile Gerima was put out in 1993 to illustrate to African Americans their truth. The meaning of Sankofa is, “We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we can understand why and how we came to be who we are today”. The film empowers the audience through time travel of how slaves rebelled, fought back, and conspired against their enslavers and overseers to freedom. The journey from Mona to Shola, we visit her ancestral experience on a new world plantation, as she endures life as a slave and experiences her developing perception and revolution.
The film was absolutely memorizing it spoke to the authentic psychological memory of slavery. Gerima painted the reincarnation of Mona, Shola, Afreia, Nunu and Joe’s redemption power through consciousness of self-identity. Nunu demonstrates the mother …show more content…

Warriors, saviors of nations. One of us is suffering. Let’s go and see Akyemfo whom we consult in time of need. Now is the time to rise up in arms. A mother is about to take a child” (Haile Gerima, Sankofa). Then shouting, “Cobra! We are not afraid of the devil. Cobra! We are not afraid of the devil” (Haile Gerima, Sankofa). A Cobra is a Portuguese word for snake, this relates to the popular metaphor Shango uses, “The snake gon eat whatever in the frog’s belly” (Haile Gerima, Sankofa). During the chant the camera cuts to each of the faces of the women in the film. Nunu then states, “A day will come when men will be made women. Generous mother hold on, people! Do not let her take the child away!” (Haile Gerima, Sankofa) she then demands, “Warriors, stand firmly behind me.” (Haile Gerima, Sankofa) In this scene Gerima is projecting that women are warriors and saviors of nations, by showing the faces of the women during Nunu’s prayer. Before Nunu cuts into Kuta’s stomach to birth the baby, she states, “Almighty, lead

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