Viewing the Angolan Experience of War and Peace through the Filmic Representation of Luanda in Maria João Ganga’s Na cidade vazia/ Hollow City (2004) and Zezé Gamboa’s O herói/ The Hero (2004)

African cities have received filmic representation by politically engaged film-makers to discuss historical, political and social impacts on the different countries' populations. Similarly, certain Angolan post-civil war film-makers have set stories in an urban space to depict the consequences of over four decades of wars (1961–2002) in the country. This article therefore focuses on two films produced after 2002 and set in the capital Luanda to analyze such portrayals of Angola. It does this by conducting a close reading of passages from both films while incorporating studies about Angola's wars. The aims are to identify the ways in which the films hint at political and social issues in the country during two relatively peaceful periods and account for the difficulties Angolan civilians experienced because of the wars. The article concludes by commenting on the films' criticism of the country's current situation and the alternatives they suggest for Angolans to reconstruct their lives.