This first feature film by Fanta Nacro, a female director from Burkina Faso, is based on the awful truth experienced by the director’s uncle years ago. Somewhere in Africa, after ten years of bloody ethnic war, the Nayaks and the Bonandés, are on the point of celebrating the peace agreement. Edna, wife of the Nayak president who still suffers from the brutal murder of her son, is disturbed. Colonel Theo wishes to be forgiven over his ‘out-of-his-mind’ killing of Edna’s young son. While the reconciliation festivities are coming along, they are overshadowed by the terrible barbarities committed by both sides.
 This Shakespearian drama clearly shows the director’s purpose to reveal wartime insanity, guilty consciences and evil. By use of allusions, the conflicts and reconciliation between characters are laid as an underplot, while shot/reverse shot structure of character interaction is restricted. By avoiding focusing on a particular character and giving a full, objective portrait of all the characters, the film allows us to ponder war, violence, and the birth of a hope.
 (Billy Choi)