Flame Film Analysis

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The film ‘Flame’ has been described as controversial due to its particular confrontation of the classic nationalist narrative that suggested that women fighters participated equally with men during the Zimbabwean liberation movement (Barnes 2006, 248). 1967 marked the year when the Second Chimurenga broke out in Zimbabwe after the majority of the ‘black population’ had been denied civil and economic rights for over two centuries (Barnes 2006, 242). The liberation movement also referred to as the Second Chimurenga was the armed struggle against the brutality and exploitation of the white settlers in Rhodesia which is now known as Zimbabwe (Barnes 2006, 242). The primary nationalist narrative will be explained in order to discuss how the film …show more content…
The historiography is challenged by the scene when Flame is raped by Che who is a fellow male guerrilla (Barnes 2006, 251). The portrayal of rape in this film contradicted the idea of gender equality highlighting the oppression of women fighters (Barnes 2006, 252). This is because clearly women were not regarded as equal and had not been able to gain respect as guerrillas. Researches that have been done in relation to sexual victimization can be incorporated in order to understand the oppression of women during the struggle. For instance researches have established gender based differences showing that women are more likely to be victims of sex crimes (Schafer, Huebner and Bynum 2006, 286) The heteronormative ideals created the impression that women were there for men’s pleasure rather than being guerrillas just like the men. In my opinion it is problematic to imply that the presence of women in the training camps was a distraction to men. This is because if men and women were treated equally, their different sex genitalia wouldn’t be regarded as being a problem as they were there to fight and not for any other …show more content…
This is illustrated in the film when Flame goes to ask the soldiers in charge when the women would finally receive training enabling them to join the men at the warfront. Tanya Lyons also went on to state that during the liberation movement, women mostly took up the ‘traditionally defined gender roles’ (Lyons 2002, 308). This included carrying weapons to the front, engaging in other tasks such as education and agricultural work (Lyons 2002, 309). The women who ‘stayed behind’ were expected to feed and protect the freedom fighters and sometimes they served the guerrillas with sex (Barnes 2006, 249). In other words, women did not participate equally but their roles were seen as ‘supportive of a male-dominated movement’ (Lyons 2002, 318). This goes to show that the film confronted the classic nationalist narrative because this inequality was highlighted by offering a voice to the ‘silenced women.’Nthabiseng Mostemme stated that black feminists in particular regarded the breaking of silence as an act of defiance that is necessary for an individual to heal and also restore their dignity (Motsemme 2004, 917). This is because silence is viewed as allowing someone else to dominate you (Motsemme 2004,

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