Echoes of War (2005)

• 74%
• 2005
• Documentary
• Joop van Wijk

War and violence leave behind the dead, the wounded, the maimed, the victim and the witness. In ECHOES OF WAR, children left behind in Afghanistan, Colombia, Sierra Leone and New York take us into their lives and share their memories, nightmares and dreams. A Colombian boy takes us down the road where his hand disappeared. In New York, two girls tell us about their father, who worked on too high a floor of the World Trade Centre. We meet a girl in Afghanistan who struggles to remember her father of whom even the pictures were burned. In Sierra Leone a family on their way to a well is attacked, leaving a girl behind who has no idea what the rebels were fighting for. A boy in the Colombian jungle dreams of becoming a doctor. A girl in a besieged city is determined to become president of her country and outlaw all weapons. The children reveal these stories by listening to the tale of a little elephant who tries to find the courage to live with the death of his father. While they identify with the plight of the little elephant we discover that they are heroes who take us beyond the politics and rhetoric of statesmen, terrorists and soldiers. By interplaying the children's life stories with the animated tale of the little elephant, ECHOES OF WAR is a sensitive and moving portrayal about the consequences of war.