Democrats

The documentary tells how Zimbabwe came by its new constitution. Two politicians who are enemies are made to carry out the work together. The camera follows them in meeting rooms, out in the country and under pressure from their own parties. The frame of the film is plain: this process will either bring the country a step closer to democracy or take it back towards repression. The account names the order of the Mugabe years as it does; that assessment is the documentary’s own. Economic sanctions and inflation make the process harder from beginning to end. A text being negotiated word by word is the real material of the account. Paul Mangwana appears in the film. Camilla Nielsson’s hundred minute documentary, a joint Danish and Zimbabwean production, was completed in 2014.