Set in 1998, shortly after the start of the Second Congo War, The Mercy of the Jungle follows a pair of lost Rwandan soldiers as they navigate the wilderness and confront their own existential crises.
Sergeant Xavier is a veteran of Rwanda’s ethnic conflicts, while Private Faustin is a fresh recruit eager to avenge the killing of his father and brothers. One night their battalion scrambles away to hunt down a group of rebels, and Xavier and Faustin are left behind just as Congolese militia begin swarming the area. They have no option but to head west, embarking on a long journey through a hostile landscape teeming with enemy patrols, wildlife, and mercenary mining operations. Thwarted by hunger and illness, the men must learn to rely on each other’s very different skill sets if they are to survive.