My Heart of Darkness plot
"Four war-veterans, former enemies journey back to past battlefields deep within the African interior in search of reconciliation, forgiveness and ... atonement?"
Higher political circles are still debating who won the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002) - the final battleground of the Cold War, which began as a struggle for independence and culminated in a protracted civil war. The victims of the conflict know better: no one has won. Not even the soldiers who killed the victims. The pivot in the documentary is Marius van Niekerk. This Swedish/South African veteran lost everything because of the fond memories of his actions during the Angolan war, he states in the opening of the film: his self-esteem, his country, his mind, his innocence, his wife. Now he takes three fellow veterans in tow on a trip down the Kwando River. Like Marius, Patrick, Mario and Sammy suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Thirty years ago they fought on different sides of the conflict, and now they travel together back to the village of Cuito-Cuanavale where their battle took place.