- Four war-veterans, former enemies journey back to past battlefields deep within the African interior in search of reconciliation, forgiveness and ... atonement?
- Four war-veterans, from different sides, step onto a boat at the mouth of the Kwando river, deep within the African interior. They are on a journey back to the battlefield, the site of the last "great" battle of the Cold War - its inconclusive and a very secret Armageddon, where they as youngsters, once tried to kill each other. But now, twenty years later, they've come together as former enemies, a new unit of disparate souls joined together not only by the common haunting of war trauma, but also by their need to understand, to reconcile, to forgive.—Marius van Niekerk
- Log-line: Four war-veterans, former enemies journey back to past battlefields deep within the African interior in search of reconciliation, forgiveness and atonement?
- Four war-veterans, from different sides, step onto a boat at the mouth of the Kwando river, deep within the African interior. They are on a journey back to the battlefield, the site of the last great battle of the Cold War its inconclusive and a very secret Armageddon, where they as youngsters, once tried to kill each other. But now, twenty years later, they've come together as former enemies, a new unit of disparate souls joined together not only by the common haunting of war trauma, but also by their need to understand, to reconcile, to forgive.
Packed in their gear each has brought with them a box of memories, trinkets from the war, saved to remember. Every veteran has one - little collection of horrible things. Our four are taking theirs back, back to the battlefield to confront their nightmares. Up there somewhere, deep inside the bush, a village awaits them, a ceremony to once and for all will cleanse them, rid them from their nightmares and welcome them back from the war, back into the community.
As their boat churns upriver and they wind their way up north, memories crowd in like the endless savannah on either side of the slowly passing riverbank, our four veterans are introduced - first Marius, the white South African, and his quest to come to terms with nightmares of the enemy soldier he decapitated, then Samuel, from Angola, tormented by the souls of 8000 women they burned accused of witchcraft. Patrick, Angolan, still sees in front of him the head of his best friend blown off after saving him from an exploding helicopter. Then the fourth, Mario the Bushman that are filled with guilt of betraying his own people, the outcast San people, squeezed between all sides of the war.
The further they travel up that river, the closer they get to their hearts of darkness, enmity and anguish creeps in amongst them, like a new hidden enemy, at times unbearable, evasive. Why do I feel so alone, so misunderstood, even with those who share my unspeakable memories?
Four men, four stories entwined, four fucked-up lives. Why am I always ready to crack, to strike out even against those I love? Why do I snap awake in the middle of the night, running, sweating, pursued, terrified?
Shot against a spectacular backdrop of African savannah, heaven, juxtaposed to the veterans stark, hellish reality, this is a film of unthinkable suffering, grotesque bestiality and meaningless violence, of disappointment, but most of all of hope. In the final analysis it may seem impossible to find resolution, to forgive and eventually to reconcile but underneath all this, a strong denominator steers the course of our four veterans lives, to set off on a path that will, inevitably change them forever.
The world has gone on to new and different issues, some trying to be solved by the same violent means, but they, these four, are still doing time, still locked in the psychological purgatory of memory. They may once have moved heaven and earth to see each other dead, but now they're on the same side victims of history, sufferers of PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder. Together now, they are going back to past battlefields, hopeful to find answers also for the future, trying to rediscover what was taken from them their humanity.
Marius van Niekerk
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