Dir.: Eric Heumann; Script: Eric Heumann, Jacques Lebas, Lam Le; Phot.: Yorgos Arvanitis; Ed.: Isabelle Dedieu; Mus.: Sanjay Mishra; Cast: Jean-Yves Dubois, Nathalie Boutefeu, Christophe Odent, Édouard Montoute, Claire Wauthion, Frédéric Pierrot; Prod.: Paradis Films, 128, rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris (France), tél.: 44 18 61 70, fax: 44 18 61 79 / Marc Soustras / Theo Angelopoulos / Classic SRL (Rome); Sales: Roissy Films, 10, avenue Georges V, 75008 Paris (France), tél.: 53 67 31 00, fax: 47 23 79 88 ;Dist.: CFP.

When Parisian surgeon Pierre Feldman arrives in Port Djema, a dusty remnant of the former French empire in East Africa, he knows next to nothing about the country or the civil war that has been tearing it apart. He has come to fulfil a promise he made to his friend Antoine Barasse. Antoine is dead; he was found murdered in Port Djema. Like Pierre, he was a doctor. He had broken with the humanitarian organization that had sponsored him and was running an out-patient clinic in a rebel-held area in the heart of the war zone. Pierre follows the trail of his friend through the capital port and shady cafés where the insurgents make their contacts. Local government politics and secret diplomacy in Port Djema wear a mask of official French neutrality. Wearing the mask, too, is Jérome Delbos, a French embassy official who tries to persuade Pierre not to travel in the forbidden zone. Despite the warning, Pierre makes his way to Antoine's clinic. He discovers a bruised country, racked by violence and betrayed by politics. At the clinic, Pierre is asked to stay. He can't; he has a practice in Paris. "I'm sorry," he says. "Being sorry is useless here," replies the nurse who remained behind after Antoine's death. Pierre has also run into Alice, a young photographer friend of Antoine's who keeps snapping the shadows of palm trees. Like Pierre, she too has a promise to keep.