Heart of Fire on AllMovie

Abandoned by her mother and left to fend for herself as her country attempts to assert its independence from Ethiopia, a young Eritrean girl rails against injustice before re-connecting with the father she never knew, and ultimately being trained to fight in one of Eritrea's liberation armies. Awet was born in the late 1970s, and as the calendar turns to a new decade her country descends into chaos as the citizens struggle to break free from Ethiopia. When her mother disappears, Awet is placed in a Cathoic orphanage in Asmara. It is during her time in the orphanage that Awet begins to first perceive the injustice all around her, and gradually learns to stand up for her beliefs. Years later, Awet is reunited with her father and her sister, but the homecoming is sadly short-lived when dad decides to make some easy money by selling the pair to one of Eritrea's liberation armies. Once at the camp, the girls suffer a harsh life of loneliness and labor as they are trained to become soldiers and forced to contend with death and fanaticism on a daily basis. But in her short life Awet has managed to gain an extraordinary amount of courage, and becomes determined to find her way out of the bleak situation by any means necessary.