Get us in your inbox

Heart of Fire

  • Film
Heart Of Fire.jpg
Advertising

Time Out says

Based on the autobiography of Senait Mehari, former child soldier in the Eritrean Liberation Front, this well-meaning dramatisation (from the co-director of ‘The Story of the Weeping Camel’) falls into the trap of providing decorative exotic suffering for middle-class Western audiences to tut-tut over. Centered on an archetypal big-brown-eyed wise-child performance from ten-year-old Letekidan Micael (heading a cast of non-professional Eritreans who defied their government to take part), it starts with plucky little Awet in the safety of an Italian-run convent school, where she learns moral precepts that stand her in good stead when her ex-freedom fighter father hands her over to one of the two rival liberation armies locked in conflict over the best way to escape the Ethiopian yoke. The sight of children taking part in a military campaign is milked for shock value, needless to say, while the pint-sized heroine’s defiant adherence to humanitarian values renders her more a stand-in for arthouse viewers’ right-on worldview than a real child in a specific dramatic situation.
Written by Trevor Johnston

Release Details

  • Release date:Friday 25 September 2009
  • Duration:92 mins

Cast and crew

  • Director:Luigi Falorni
  • Cast:
    • Letekidan Micael
    • Solomie Micael
    • Seble Tilahun
Advertising
You may also like
You may also like