But where Kindzu’s narrative never strays far from realism (a departure from the novel), Muidinga’s tale becomes a synthesis of traditional and documentary storytelling (Director Teresa Prata calls it “Supra-Realism” in an essay from the film discussion guide included on the DVD). Both document the brutality of the protracted civil war that raged in newly independent Mozambique from 1977 to 1992, from paramilitary raids that decimated families and villages, to ethnic and racial discord fanned by the scarcity of resources brought about by the armed conflict. Muidinga’s and Kindzu’s stories contrast with and complement each other. Tuahir considers Muidinga’s amnesia a blessing in time of war, a chance for rebirth. Tuahir represents the old oral tradition, concerned with narratives that convey eternal verities-like the creation myth detailing the origin of plants and animals that he relates to Muidinga-rather than historical or biographical facts. “You don’t even have a story”, Tuahir tells Muidinga, when the boy inquires about his forgotten past. Sleepwalking Land concerns itself with storytelling at every turn. As Muidinga comes to identify with Gaspar, the narrative proper and the tale from the diary merge. They make a home in the bus, leaving for daily sorties to forage for food.

Muidinga takes to reading passages from the diary to the illiterate Tuahir, and eventually both become caught up in Kindzu’s story, dramatized to form a second film within Sleepwalking Land. When the two come across the hulk of a bus-burned by a roaming armed gang who murdered all the passengers-Muidinga finds a diary, the narrative of a young man on a quest not unlike his own: Kindzu, having lost his own family, is searching for Gaspar, the son of Farida, a woman he has met and fallen in love with. Muidinga is determined to find his family and recall his past, which he has forgotten after a bout with fever in a refugee camp, but Tuahir wants to leave the past behind and start anew. A harsh, uncompromising view of Mozambique’s civil war from the perspective of civilians, this film captures the resiliency of youth and the power of storytelling.īased on Mia Couto’s 1992 novel, Sleepwalking Land follows the adventures of 11-year-old Muidinga, as he wanders the countryside in the company of Tuahir, an older man he calls “uncle”.

Sleepwalking land