Wit Licht

2008, 120 minutes

After the sudden death of his wife Anna, Eduard Zuiderwijk (Marco Borsato), who is a cook and a restaurant owner in East Africa, is suddenly solely responsible for raising his son, Thomas. Thomas is best friends with Abu, son of Mafillu, one of the black staff members of the restaurant.
After a nightly raid in the village where Abu lives, he is taken hostage with a dozen other children by rebels. Thomas is devastated. He keeps on asking his father complicated questions. Where is Abu? Why aren’t we going out to look for him?
Eduard decides to attempt to find out what happened to Abu and the other children. He leaves for a refugee camp to obtain more information. There, he meets 30 year old Valerie, a care giver in the camp, who tells him the rebels’ whereabouts. In the meantime, Abu is raised strictly as a child soldier in Michael Obeke’s rebel camp.
After a dangerous search through the jungle of the African country, Eduard manages to find Obeke’s camp and realises to his surprise that Abu is nothing like the little boy who used to be Thomas’ friend…

Credits

Themes
Business and Corporations, Crime, Crimes against humanity and war crimes, War and armed conflict, Youth and children's rights
Suitable for
havo/vwo - bovenbouw
mbo - niveau 1 & 2
mbo - niveau 3 & 4
vmbo b/k - leerjaar 3 & 4
vmbo t - leerjaar 3 & 4
Director
Jean van de Velde
Country of production
Netherlands, The
Type
Fiction
Duration
120 minutes
Year
2008
Age rating
16 geweld