Surviving the impossible: The function of magical realism in Teresa Prata’s Terra Sonâmbula

Abstract

Abstract Teresa Prata’s film Terra Sonâmbula (2007), an adaptation of Mia Couto’s magical realist novel of the same name, examines violence from a different perspective than its source material – although both the novel and the film consider the difficulties confronting Mozambican society in the face of a horrific civil war, Couto’s novel was published the same year the war ended, while Prata’s film was released fifteen years later, with the national climate much altered. Despite this difference, both the novel and the film make use of magical realism in certain pivotal moments of their narratives. This study analyses the function of magical realism in both works, arguing that the concept serves as a sort of coping mechanism, a way of making sense of the world that allows the narratives’ characters to remain hopeful despite the violence and devastation that surrounds them.