Fambul Tok

“The bad he done was just too much,” says one of the many unforgettable characters in this moving and inspiring documentary about Sierra Leone that manages simultaneously to depict both the absolute worst of human nature and its very best. The film follows a homegrown process of reconciliation, called Fambul Tok (“family talk”), that was needed after the country’s long and brutal civil war. The idea is to bring the perpetrators of atrocities, including the aptly named Captain Mohamed Savage (a.k.a. Mr. Die), together with their victims. The reunion is painful, but it also appears to be effective. Taking place around a campfire, much of the pain seems to melt away in front of the flames.