The southern African nation of Angola is only recently emerging from a combined forty years of anticolonial and civil war. Set in the overpopulated, colorful, and musical capital city of Luanda, The Hero intertwines postwar stories of characters from different strata of Angolan society who-like their country-are trying to reconstruct their lives. First time director Zézé Gamboa compassionately presents the stories of grief, loss, resilience and hope that are so much a part of the global South. The hero of the title is Vitório (Oumar Makéna Diop), an unemployed and homeless war veteran, awaiting a prosthetic leg from the government hospital to replace the one he lost after stepping on a land mine. In another part of town is the young, streetwise Manu (the very affecting Milton Coelho), whose father is MIA from the war. By chance, Vitório meets two women who transform his life: Manu's teacher Joana (Patricia Bull), who becomes an advocate for veterans after encountering Vitório, and Judite (Maria Ceiça) a lonely nightclub prostitute who longs for the young son she was forced to abandon during the war. Zézé Gamboa is a unique and acclaimed new voice-The Hero won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.