South Africans are hungry for community. 30 years post-apartheid, we still fall short of Ubuntu, failing to even speak the same language. Set against the backdrop of the brutal 90km Comrades marathon, Countdown for a Nation uses an observational cinematic language to juxtapose the journey of the race with the journey of a nation and its people. In revealing how ordinary South Africans can resist the legacy of the past, using running to unite as Comrades, the film posits: If we can unite for a marathon, why can’t we unite as a nation?