O Heroi

In the tradition of the Italian neorealist school of cinema, O Heroi (The Hero) focuses on the efforts of a wounded war veteran named Vitorio (Oumar Diop Makena) to rebuild his life after returning to his home in Angola, a benighted African country torn apart by four decades of civil war. Having lost a leg after fighting for 20 years, Vitorio receives a prosthetic limb and resolves to find work, but his disability and lack of marketable skills make him a target of prejudice, and he sinks into depression before meeting a prostitute named Judite, who has suffered loss herself. Subsequently, Vitorio is befriended by a teacher named Joana, and also becomes a guardian of sorts to Manu, a young orphan boy who has promise but lacks direction. Director Zeze Gamboa doesn't sugarcoat the hardships experienced by his characters (but he also doesn't allow the film to sink into despair), and he eschews pat solutions and conventional plot developments in favor of presenting Vitorio and the others in real-life settings, while also treating the Angolan problem with admirable, almost journalistic detachment. Still, while totally uncompromising, O Heroi nevertheless strikes an optimistic chord. Recommended. (E. Hulse)