Postcolonial cinema in newly independent countries often focused on asserting cultural identity against former colonial powers. In India, films like Mother India (1957) became emblematic of resilience, rooted in rural traditions and nationalist sentiment. Nigerian Nollywood dramatized post-independence life, using local languages and customs to affirm African identity. Iran’s post-revolutionary cinema, under directors like Abbas Kiarostami and Asghar Farhadi, depicted everyday life as a reflection of national character—constrained yet full of poetic depth.
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In the United States, the musical West Side Story (1961) and other New Hollywood films of the 1960s encapsulated national anxieties about race, immigration, and city life. Meanwhile, Westerns—spanning decades—reinforced myths of frontier individualism, rugged masculinity, and the American dream, even as later revisions (e.g., Unforgiven, 1992) deconstructed these myths.
National identity isn’t always exclusive. In Canada and Australia, co-productions with the UK or U.S. reinforced anglo-centric identities, while indigenous filmmakers—such as Canada’s Alanis Obomsawin and Australia’s Warwick Thornton—used cinema to challenge these mainstreamist narratives and reclaim marginalized histories.
