Drama

Not only the series on Kurt Wallander has reached the big screen. Henning Mankell's book Comédia Infantil was made a movie in 1998.

Comédia Infantil
For ten year old Nelio in the Mozambique-based Comedia Infantil it is a child’s innocence and spirituality that offers some hope. Nelio has seen his village burned down and witnessed atrocities to his family. After shooting his guerrilla captor, he flees to Maputo. En route, in mystical images reminiscent of The Night of the Hunter, he seems to be protected by the local wildlife. In the capital he scrapes a living among the local street children and gains a reputation as a healer. But he is not free from his past, and his story – told in flashbacks – captures the hardships and displacement caused by civil war. That the child actors are real-life streetchildren (leading actor Sergio Titos ran away from his orphanage to audition for the part) adds another dimension to Solveig Nordlund’s film while raising issues about exploitation.

Updated: May 17, 2005.