De staart van de leeuw

The small city of Bonga is located in a muddy and remote region of Ethiopia. Willem Zevenbergen and his wife Bertie live here. He has been working as a development aid worker for many years and wants to carry out his final mission in Bonga, before retiring. A former minister once called him ‘the conscience of development co-operation’; Zevenbergen himself is quite matter-of-fact about his work. Forty years ago, he started as a colonial administrator in New Guinea, in an attempt to what was then called ‘civilise the population’. Today, the fight against poverty is the prime task, with Zevenbergen holding the point of view that people can only improve their living conditions if full responsibility lies with them. Willem’s son, the filmmaker, follows him and wonders whether the heroic image he always had of his father corresponds with reality.