Comedia Infantil - Nelio's Story (Comedia Infantil)

A Henning Mankell Film

Synopsis:
Comédia Infantil is based on a new book by the Swedish author Henning Mankell, who has been living in Mozambique for many years. Nelio, street kid and prophet is the main character.

Nelio is only ten years old but he has already the wisdom and experience of a very old man. He has to leave the village where he was born after a terrorist attack. He is taken prisoner of war, but manages to escape. After a long walk he arrives in the big city, where he hides in a hollow statue in the city centre.

Here he becomes a street kid among other street kids. He meets Nascimento, the fighter, who talks with his fists, tormented by the monsters inside his head; Mandioca, who grows tomatoes and onions in his pockets; Bomba, who only has one arm and the quick-witted and spirited albino girl Deolinda, only girl among the boys.

Together they experience fantastic adventures when they discover that they can control the world by making themselves invisible. They enter the Presidential Palace and put a dead lizard on the President's bedside table. They also pay a secret visit to the big Department Store and move all the merchandise. They celebrate a birthday at the home of an international aid worker, while he is sunbathing on the beach.

Nelio is the natural leader of the gang and the others believe that he possesses magical powers. Nobody, not even the police, dares to touch him and sick and crippled people come to him to be cured....