Fatu’s father has returned home to Guinea-Bissau from Portugal to attend her wedding. The young woman teaches at the university and her future husband is a well-known musician. Their wedding is supposed to take place in Tabatô, a village where everyone makes music. On the way there, it becomes apparent that the father is seriously traumatised by his experiences as a soldier in the colonial war decades earlier.
A post-colonial narrative in black and white and red. This visually fascinating film incorporates many documentary elements into its story: the references to the historical achievements and cultural traditions of the West African Mandinka; the engagement with the town of Tabatô and the country’s real life musicians; the images of the cinema, cemetery, harbour and marshlands. The old man carries relics from the war in his suitcase. The young people are tired of the frequent putsches. Both have left their mark on the country’s current reality. When the father finally fights his demons and the village musicians seek to banish them by playing on their balafons, it becomes a battle of war versus peace and past versus future. (Birgit Kohler)
Production: Papaveronoir Films, Lisbon
Screenplay: João Viana
Camera: Mario Miranda
Cast: Imutar Djebaté, Fatu Djebaté, Mamadu Baio
Format: QuickTime ProRes 422, b&w
Running time: 78 min
Language: Mandinka
A batalha de Tabatô
The Battle of Tabatô
João Viana
Guinea-Bissau, Portugal 2013
