Beasts of No Nation

I was sceptical of watching this film at first. It looked like a low budget, and amateur attempt for Netflix to get bigger in their original film business. I went to IMDb to see what people had to say, noticed it got decent reviews and decided to give it a shot. Let me say, this is one of the best films I have ever seen within this genre.

Without spoiling anything, I will say that this is about the general civil warfare that exists in Africa, something most western, shelterd Americans have never even fathomed and have only learned about through movies. The film doesn't specify what part of Africa it is, but you know it is something that is real.

Netflix doesn't hide anything about the realities of what happens to families, children, fathers, and brothers, as well as the numbness the war leaders (on both sides, really) have toward excessive and brutal violence. Imagine: the film shows all of this through the eyes of a boy, probably only 12 years old. He is forced into a mercenary squad after his family is torn apart, and he experiences something that is even darker than hell itself.

That young boy, played by Abraham Attah, puts on a performance I have never seen before in a child actor. Given the mature content of the film, it is quite unbelievable that the torn emotions any child would have, given this situation, is so clearly displayed and authentic. Every scene just tore at my soul; I wondered if it was really acting. And he wasn't the only one; women, children, and the "extras" in the film: are these people really doing their first major film? Each scene left me speechless.

The emotional involvement I had with this film as a viewer is astonishing. I felt ashamed at myself for thinking my life had problems, for thinking my life was hard. I felt foolish realizing my immaturity in life, and felt embarrassed for us as America in general, for caring so much about things so materialistic and shallow, when people in Africa (and other parts of the world, no doubt), are fighting for their lives every day, being torn apart by corrupt leaders and greed.

To compare this film, it is similar to The City of God and Blood Diamond, but in an of itself, it is certainly unique. It's a masterpiece.

I thought Beasts of No Nation was an excellent movie. It's certainly hard to watch but even though it's hard it is a very good movie. What makes it special is that it's a movie about real life events. Shameful events yes but real events. The fact that we live in such an horrible world where in some countries kids can not be kids anymore, but brainwashed killing machines is maybe incomprehensive for some people that have no clue what's happening outside their cozy neighborhood, but it's the hard reality. Child soldiers used by power hungry fools to do their dirty job is not an illusion anymore. The actors, especially the young ones were sublime. Very powerful acting. They made me think about all the misery that goes around in Africa. Very good filming as well. Like I said before the story might be hard to watch but it's certainly a must see to understand the problematics of some African countries.

I've heard more than one person say that they can't watch a movie like "Beasts of No Nation." It's a sentiment I understand. After all, who really wants to watch a movie about child soldiers recruited to become killers in savage African civil wars? But these things are happening, and the bare minimum I can if I want to respect myself as a citizen of the world is to watch movies about it, and fictional ones at that. This isn't even a documentary.

And if people can get past the premise, they will find themselves watching a gripping film. A tough one, yes, and one that might make your stomach churn. But it's extremely well made, with excellent performances from child actor Abraham Attah and Idris Elba, as the child protagonist and the leader who recruits him, respectively. This young child experiences a multitude of things, any one of which would permanently scar virtually anyone. And the film doesn't offer a contrived happy-ish ending to reward us for sitting through the suffering, which is one of the things I most appreciated about it. Because let's be honest; is there even a remote chance that stories like the one told here could end happily?

In this year of bickering about the whiteness of the Oscars, this film and its lack of nominations being held up repeatedly as an example, I can at least feel like I did my part -- you don't get much further away from white Hollywood and the stories it likes to tell than this film.

Grade: A-

Originally known for his first two films Sin Nombre and Jane Eyre, Cary Fukunaga was put on the map for most by his audacious work on the first season of HBO's True Detective last year, unconventionally directing every episode. He got all-time worthy performances from Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey and boasted a palpable bleak mood from his photography, earning an Emmy for the episode "Who Goes There" with that captivating long take. He could do whatever he wanted after that, and so, tip toeing past comfortable studio gigs that may or may not have landed on his desk, he ventured out to the African jungles with Idris Elba for the most stressful shoot since Apocalypse Now. Catching malaria, filling in for an injured camera operator, and constantly rewriting the script due to the actors dropping out, the haphazard conditions shows on the film for better and for worse.

Coppola's film is an apt point of comparison for the effect of Beasts of No Nation, as well as Platoon and The Thin Red Line. Battered by explosions and gunfire, you come out of the film wearing the same thousand yard stare as its characters. At that point, it's easy to forget the delights of the first ten minutes as Abraham Attah's Agu playfully hustles his living, selling shells of television sets with his friends. It's not a perfect life, but the energy is reminiscent of the less dangerous sections of City of God. It's only from that light that the darkness hits hardest and invests you in Agu's plight and losses. However, this is as rocky as the roller-coaster gets. The next 2 hours is an absorbing barrage of misery and brutal dilemmas. The narrative thread is very loose, and perhaps some is lost in translation with the character's thick accents, but this is part of its point, especially in utilising child soldiers who won't know the ins and outs of what's going on anyway.

This aimlessness of the mission and the way that the war is so much bigger than the soldiers and battalions demonstrates that there is no way into peace from war. The kids are fighting for a future that they won't be able to find solace in, neither from eventual living and economical conditions, nor inner peace from the atrocities they've committed. These bleak ideas hit hard. And like Malick's The Thin Red Line, a relationship with God in war is challenged. It's questioned whether it's possible or fair to have spiritual happiness after such sins. There is very poor foresight in war, and after only briefly touching a jarring scene where they visit the higher ups, it benefits no-one on the battleground. The film never preaches these messages, instead relying on the fact that we know how heartbreakingly true it is despite how far removed most of us will be.

Abraham Attah absolutely disappears into his role. He's not showy, but just completely immersed in the film whether he's soaking in events or lashing out against them. He's easily the biggest discovery here. However, I expected great things from Elba after the hype and while he is good, it wasn't the tour de force performance I anticipated. That's just not how the character ended up being written. He has memorable moments but he teeters undefinably on the line between a manipulative villain and a manipulative mentor. He's no doubt an opportunist, but the film doesn't explore his character to the full extent, and the most dramatic moments are quite familiar as they're staples in other war films. Beasts stands out by having such a young boy other end of those dilemmas. Elba is perhaps too polished to go with the inherent rawness of the rest of the cast.

Fukunaga's cinematography is quite good, not boasting the same tricks as True Detective, but also clearly battling against the elements. It certainly has atmosphere. The style favours ambient music over montages of the war scenes and while that makes it flow together it also means that its surprises fall by the periphery. I can imagine that this will play well on Netflix, granted you give it full attention on a big HD television. The cinema projection does suffer from added graininess but that is rarely a problem via the internet and should compliment Fukunaga's cinematography a little more. I imagine that it will garner a divided reaction, with some finding it too hard to bare through the whole thing, but I can't imagine it getting much Oscar traction based on passion alone. It will be a pleasant and worthy surprise if it does score any nominations. At least an admirable effort that will be being remembered as one of the most notable war films of this decade.

8/10

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This is quite simply one of the best war films of the 21st Century. Netflix's first outing on the big screen is a huge success thanks to an absolutely harrowing tale of conflict that makes for one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking movie experiences you've had in a long time.

The story follows this young boy, Agu, as he becomes deeper and deeper involved in the rebel army under the wing of the Commandant, played by Idris Elba. Both of these performances are simply excellent. Elba is often terrifying as the warmongering troop leader, and his unnerving performance is key to making this such an unsettling and disturbing film.

However, even Idris Elba is outshone by the stunning performance given by the young Abraham Attah, who plays Agu. Attah does a brilliant job at showing his character's transformation over the course of the story, from an innocent young boy to a hardened warrior in one of the most brutal wars on the planet.

This ties in perfectly, then, with the main theme of the film, which is all about the way that war destroys innocence entirely and replaces it with only doom and despair. In that, you can see that this is clearly an anti-war film, but it fortunately doesn't present itself so much as that, only giving you its powerful message if you concentrate hard enough and look for the details telling you about the destruction that war has brought to this place.

I say that because this film is, on the whole, not the most fast- paced, and if you watch it with your brain turned off, you'll likely be bored, because it's quite long, and hasn't got much action at all, it's the power and emotion of the underlying themes that provides the horrifying punch that makes this so compelling and upsetting.

Cary Joji Fukunaga's directing is also stunning. As well as making a simply beautiful film to look at, the way he directs every scene works brilliantly in tandem with whatever the film is trying to say. There are so many astonishing long shots of individuals' faces, particularly focused on Agu, and they just have such an incredible emotional power when you really look deep into their situation.

Abraham Attah's performance as a young boy who has clearly been through hell is of course integral to making that emotion clear, but the inventive and beautiful directing really aggrandises that feeling of total despair and loss of innocence, which is why this film is just such an incredible one to watch.