The Ultimate Betrayal

The Ultimate Betrayal Revolutions, whether successful or not, inevitably change the place in which they happen. In the early 20th century, nearly all of Africa was colonized by European powers. Colonialism, and Africans’ ill feelings toward being colonized, inspired unity, desire for social change, and an urge for independence. Revolutions were imminent in Africa due to the strict policies of segregation, social structure, and feelings of superiority that the Europeans brought. These feelings were ingrained in many people, both consciously and sub-consciously. Many Africans, after independence, fell back into this old routine and when the white populations left, the feelings of superiority and the old social structure continued to manifest

The film takes place in colonial Zimbabwe, or as it was called, Rhodesia. At the beginning, they are at the height of the civil war between the native people, and the white Rhodesians. Great Britain had given the country independence, but the white people there wanted to remain in control, so they set up a segregation system and tried to displace native Africans. The Rhodesians did not care about what was right or wrong, they just wanted to remain in power. This led to many Africans being captured and executed for no justified reason. Ironically, it was policies like these that convinced so many to join in the rebellion and assist in the struggle. Florence and Nyasha, or as they were called in most of the film, Flame and Liberty, were examples of this. They changed their names, along with the rest of the rebels, so that if they were ever caught, there would be no trace of who they were nor who their families were. Flame’s father was captured and killed because someone had told the government that he was working with the rebellion. This prompted Flame and Liberty to leave their homes to go fight. Both of these women sought real change and believed that with this revolution, progress could be made both socially and economically in

Flame’s crush, Danger, had convinced her to go there and fight with him. Upon arriving, they quickly get into the ranks and begin basic training. This included learning new things like addressing each other “comrade.” This emphasized equality among each other. One of the main goals of the revolution was not only to become independent, but also to change the attitudes that had rooted itself. By emphasizing these new goals, like calling their counterparts comrade, they were not only fighting the Rhodesians physically, they were also fighting them psychologically. This was an attempt to instill equality in the rebels so they can continue the fight after independence. Flame and Liberty, along with the other women, get frustrated when the rebels do not train them in combat. They decided to band together and asked the rebel leaders to start training them so they could fight. Their goal, reached passed gender inequality. They truly emulated the goals of the revolution, they had banded together by questioning the authority of the men. The women wanted to fight the Rhodesians as badly as the men did. They craved independence in the same way. The rebel leaders agreed and started to train them like they did with all the other