In 1958, at a climatic moment in the Cuban revolution, the South African cargo ship Constantia docked in Cuba to load sugar. Twenty one-year-old seaman, Ronald Herboldt, from Salt River, was immediately attracted to Fidel Castro's cause. He jumped ship and as 'the African' began a career in the Cuban armed struggle that saw him fight the Batista dictatorship, help liberate Cuba, marry a local girl, learn to speak Spanish and fight in the Angolan war.
Despite an abiding love for his adopted country and family, Ronald has an aching desire return home. Forty years later he returns to an ecstatic, poignant homecoming, but his schizophrenic nationhood becomes evident when he must choose between his wife and revolutionary life, or retirement in Cape Town with a family that loves him, but doesn't understand him.



Jack Lewis, South Africa, 2007, 83m. In English, Afrikaans, Spanish and Portuguese.


PRIX / FESTIVALS / AWARDS / DISTINCTIONS / TELEVISIONS


2008 | 15th New York African Film Festival | NEW YORK, Usa | APRIL 9th to MAY 26th | www.africanfilmny.org |
> Selection
(U.S. Premiere)
Co-presented with Cinema Tropical


9th edition of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival | Johannesburg, 13 - 22 July 2007 | Cape Town, 20 July - 5 August 2007 |
> Selection (Category: South Africa)