Berlinale competition ends with film about African child soldier

Feb 17, 2012, 8:01 GMT

Berlin - A movie following the harrowing life of a 14-year-old girl soldier in Africa brings to an end Friday the screenings for the Berlin Film Festival's main competition.

Canadian director Kim Nguyen's Rebelle (War Witch) is one of 18 films competing for the Berlinale's prestigious Golden Bear for best picture.

War often mixed with the explosive elements of religion and father-and-son tensions has been a major theme running through this year's festival.

The Berlinale's main prizes are to be handed out by the festival's jury - headed by British director Mike Leigh - in a Hollywood-style gala ceremony on Saturday.

A total of 400 movies will have been screened across the main sections of what is the world's biggest film festival in terms of audience when it ends on Sunday.

Shot in Congo, Rebelle tells the story of Komona, who is forced into the jungle to become a child soldier after rebels burn her village to the ground and her parents are killed.

Her brutal commander orders her to sleep with him before she finally escapes the camp with the help of an older boy, who she falls in love with.

But despite all the traumas she lives through, Komona represents a beacon of hope and a search for peace in a continent scarred by war and often daily horror.

In the film, Komona's aim is to return to her village so she can bury her parents to prevent them having to eternally wander the country as ghosts.