The Hero

O Herói

Angola, France, Portugal

2004

97 Min

Color

Portuguese

Currently 2.8/5 Stars.
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PROD Fernando Vendrell, François d'Artemare, Tony Gamboa

SCR Carla Baptista, Pierre-Marie Goulet, Fernando Vendrell

CAST Makena Diop, Milton 'Santo' Coelho, Maria Ceiça, Patricia Bull, Neuza Borges, Raúl Rosário, Prospero Joao, Orlando Sérgio, Fernando Lupach, Catarina Matos

MUSIC David Linx, Diederik Wissels

SOUND Gita Cerveira

Toronto, London, Sundance: Grand Jury Prize

Synopsis

When he was 15, Vitório was recruited by Angolan army, where he would stay for two decades fighting. In his last mission, he was hit by a mine and lost a leg. After a long time waiting, he finally manages to secure a prothesis. With no job and unable to find his family, he faces indifference and mockery. One night, while sleeping on the street, somebody steals his prothesis. But he finds support on three people: the prostitute Judith, the boy Manu and Joana, Manu’s teacher . —IMDb

Director

Zézé Gamboa

Zézé Gamboa started in Angolan television in May 1974, as a news producer. He went to Europe in 1980 (nine years in Paris and another seven in Belgium) and then he settled in Lisbon, where he found better conditions for work on his films, both in technical and in financial terms; and it was better for his family too.

“Mopiopio, Sopro de Angola (1991) was his first documentary – it was a critique of Angolan society, the shortages and the imbalance of the times expressed through music. Other documentaries followed, among them Desassossego de Pessoa and Dessidência. They picked up the thread of a socio-cultural vision, in an attempt to help towards minimising information shortfalls.

But what Zézé Gamboa likes most is to work with fiction. O Herói tells the story of a soldier, Vitorio, who returns to Luanda having been mutilated by a landmine. He took a long time over this film but it was worthwhile, since it netted him around 15 awards, among them the 2005 award in the best… read more