The Hero of Angola (Zézé Gamboa, 2004)

“The war destroyed our country

and the dreams
of our entire generation.”

-Vitório

O Herói (The Hero) is an inspiring melodrama about an impoverished and war-torn Angola. It features an international cast: Senegalese actor Oumar Makéna Diop who plays the title character; Brazilian actresses Maria Ceiça and Neusa Borges; Portuguese actress Patricia Bull and a local Angolan boy called Milton ‘Santo’ Coelho, who, in his acting debut, plays the part of ‘Manu’. Shot in Angola and released in 2004, this is a self-assured directorial debut from the Angolan Zézé Gamboa (who is better known for his documentary work). It was written by Carla Baptista and produced by Fernando Vendrell (both Portuguese). Vendrell is committed to producing films from Portuguese-speaking African countries.  

This Angola-Portugal-France production has won 29 international awards, including the 2005 Sundance Film Festival’s 'World Cinema Grand Jury Prize' and the 2005 Pan African Film Festival's 'Best Feature Film' award in Los Angeles. This film, which took a decade to complete, has put Angolan cinema into the international cinematic spotlight for the first time.

O Herói captures the struggles of poverty-stricken Angola, a country ravaged by forty years of relentless conflict, as it courageously tries to piece itself back together. The story focuses on the city of Luanda, as it continuously absorbs millions of people, displaced by civil strife and global economic change. It tells a multilayered contemporary tale of a diverse group of Angolans: a disabled war veteran, a prostitute, an orphaned schoolboy and his teacher as they all try to rebuild their lives after the end of Angola’s civil war. Featuring powerful characterization, the film, which has English subtitles for non-Portuguese speakers, offers a poignant account of a nation torn apart by a war which reverberates far beyond Angola’s borders. It also provides a sentimental account of war-disabled veteran Vitório (Diop), who still longs for a sexual relationship and, eventually, a family.

The superb aerial shots of Luanda, which are shown at the beginning and end of O Herói, exhibit an urban layout which is saturated by shanty towns. The city plays a significant role, where, as a microcosm of Angola, the war has caused a mass exodus into the capital from rural areas, thereby stretching the capacity of Luanda's infrastructure, as well as amplifying socio-economic hardship. The film follows the 35 year-old decorated war veteran, Vitório, who, after losing a leg from a mine explosion, becomes destitute in Angola's sprawling capital. Vitório’s tale intertwines with orphaned adolescent Manu (Coelho), an apathetic student selling stolen goods on the black market.  Manu longs to find his missing father (also displaced by the war) whilst Joana (Bull) - Manu’s compassionate teacher, launches a campaign to bring Vitório’s cause to the downtrodden public. Every character in the film has a war story. If they are not missing limbs, they are missing parents or children, are homeless or without work. This demonstrates the tragedy of displacement and the ensuing generation lost through protracted war. On closer analysis of the film, the relationship between disability and sexuality can be viewed as a critical crossover following years of civil war. It leaves the Angolan people broken, both in physical body and soul. In other words, war does cause physical handicap but not necessarily sexual disablement. 

“You’re a hero,”

the foreman admits,

“but I need normal men.”

From a strictly cinematic view, it is not a Hollywood blockbuster, but rather an honest representation of Angola’s reality. It portrays Angola's naive optimism in conjunction with its dark realistic vision of a still unstable and destroyed society, with kids living on the street, prostitution and a black market economy. The film is quite slow and sentimental at times. The French-speaking actor Diop is somewhat irritating, due to his lips being out of sync with the dubbed Portuguese. Brazilian actors Ceiça and Borges struggle to adapt their Brazilian-Portuguese accents to Angolan-Portuguese ones, but this will not be apparent to non-Portuguese speakers reading the subtitles. The subtle colours used when filming, in addition to the sombre music, give the film a parallel political undertone, which exposes the Angolan government’s lack of responsibility in addressing the pressing social issues. It is exceptional that, despite the devastating story which unfolds, the director takes a decidedly uplifting, optimistic tone. The makeshift families forged by the characters, demonstrate that Angola will have to reconstruct itself and become a nation in solidarity. This will be imperative in order to heal its fragmented society and provide an element of closure on the social consequences of war. This, in time, will help Angola to recover on a national level as well as a personal one.

While it is debatable whether this can be considered an art house box office hit, it is a testimony of Angola's history and, at the same time, provides context for its future. It also raises a vital awareness of Luso-African cinema, and is certainly worth watching!

Trailer