Rebelle

¨We are rebels. Respect your guns. They're your new mother and father.¨

War Witch, also known as Rebelle, is a Canadian film directed by Kim Nguyen that has been nominated for this year's Academy Awards for best foreign picture. It is an enlightening film about the horrors that some children have to face in Africa when kidnapped by rebel forces. Nguyen, who also wrote the screenplay, did it in a very sensitive manner without relying on melodramatic or shocking moments. This is more of a sensitive drama focusing on a character study of a young girl's life when forced to kill her parents and join a rebel army. The harsh and violent reality of her life is softened by her innocence and supernatural mystic powers. The film combines these two elements in such a way that it makes the movie a much lighter and pleasant viewing experience. The addition of a sweet love story between her and one of the kids in the rebel army is what balances out the ultra realistic violence in her world with a touch of magical romantic moments, such as the search for the white rooster which gives the movie a much more lighter touch in midst of all the drama. The performance from Rachel Mwanza feels so real and authentic that it makes the film work as we see how this innocent girl's life changes as she becomes a woman in the midst of war. War Witch wouldn't have worked if it weren't for her unique portrayal of this character. This is a powerful film because there is no denying these things are happening in real life, and we need to put an end to this senseless brutality. Kim Nguyen does a great job with the direction of this film by adding some unique touches in the sound department, and the cinematography works really well.

The movie takes place in an undisclosed country in Africa where Komona (Rachel Mwanza), a young 14 year old pregnant girl, decides to tell her unborn child the story of her life. When she was 12, rebel forces raided her village and forced her and other children to murder their parents and join them. They were all given guns and prepared to fight for the Grand Tigre Royal (Mizinga Mwinga). She was the only child from her village to survive an early encounter against government army forces, after being warned by the ghosts of her parents to run. After this, she was considered to be a War Witch due to her mystical powers. She befriends another boy from the rebel army, who is also considered to have some sort of mystical powers and is known as the Magician (Serge Kanyinda). Together they decide to run away and hide at the Magician's uncle's home. He is known as the butcher (Ralph Prosper) and is very kind to the young kids who fall in love with each other. The Magician asks Komona to marry him, and she says that she can only marry him if he finds her a white rooster, which is extremely rare to find in that country. Despite the pleasant life she seems to be living, the ghosts still torment her, and after a brief moment of peace the rebels are back again to haunt her. Will Komona ever find peace in this senseless and brutal society she's living in?

War Witch is only about 90 minutes long, which was perfect because it could have gotten heavy handed if Nguyen had decided to expand the screenplay more. I really enjoyed that he decided to include this world of superstition in the midst of all the violence because it is a great part of the African culture which is left out sometimes. Despite the violent world in which Komona was introduced too, she also was able to find love although it was short lived. Nguyen found a perfect balance between this horrific world and the magical romantic one that Komona lived in. This will not win the Oscar, because Amour is a lock at this point, but it still is a unique film that is worth checking out if you 're into foreign films. I really enjoyed this film, although I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. It isn't groundbreaking, but is worth seeing for the story and performances alone.

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I attended a screening of this film at the Toronto International Film Festival. The director was there and spoke of the tedious process of getting his film released. I am not sure when it will be open to the public but I hope it can come out in a not-so-distant future because it's definitely a must see.

Rebelle is not for everyone. It's hard to watch and may be too much for some. But what's so terrible about this film isn't what is shown. It's what isn't. The story is about a 14 year-old girl, telling her story to her unborn baby before giving birth. It spans the two years preceding the opening of the film, when the girl was abducted from her village by the rebel army and turned into a child soldier. As every step, something terrible happens. But somehow, leaving the theatre, you simply know that in real life, it may have been even more horrible.

I won't spoil anything but as you can imagine, as she lives with the rebel army, she is forced to do unspeakable things. She is somewhat protected by the leader as he believes her to be a witch. Throughout the film, she has visions of the ghosts of people killed by the rebel army, including her own parents. It doesn't seem unrealistic or made up. It makes the film just this more bearable to watch, as we're let into the mind of a child and her ways of coping with the events around her.

She befriends another kid believed to have special powers, a boy barely older than she is. As their relationship evolves, you find yourself within their own personal haven, their escape from the atrocities of the life they are forced to live. You understand why child soldiers do what they do, how a human being can be turned to commit inhumane crimes. From their adventure together, you will laugh at times and cry at others.

It's really hard to write about this film without giving away anything. All the emotions you will feel watching time come from the characters around the kids and the small things that happen to them that give them the strength to go on. The 'butcher' may be the best character in the film. His kindness to the children, his understanding of what they have been though and his acceptance of what they have become is incredibly touching.

It's a tough film. A beautiful film. A film that stays with you long after you've seen it. Most of the actors hired had never acted before but they are all fantastic. Rachel Mwanza in particular is unforgettable. I hope she goes on to have a brilliant career because she was fantastic.

If ever you have an opportunity to see Rebelle, take it. You won't regret it.

Rachel Mwanza is the war witch of the title, a twelve year old girl who is captured and turned into a child soldier by a violent rebel group fighting undefined government forces in an unnamed African country. Mwanza is quite good as Komona, a kid who has to grow up unnaturally fast. She becomes very proficient with an AK-47, and after surviving an ambush by the enemy, is given the name "war witch" by her leaders. She befriends a boy named the magician, and he looks like a young version of the former basketball player, Dennis Rodman, with platinum blond hair. The two fall in love and escape the rebel fighters, as the film shifts from a war drama to a love story for a brief time. Without giving away too much, there is no happy ending here, and ultimately the theme is just about survival at any cost. A ghost story aspect is part of the plot, a slight reminder of Toni Morrison's "Beloved", a similar mood is shared by the two movies. Rachel Mwanza makes "War Witch" worth it.

When we think of African countries, many Westerners think of countries in the midst of bloody civil wars involving child soldiers, senseless violence, AIDs, etc. Our impression of African countries is one that we've learned from movies like Blood Diamond and from images presented by charities and documentaries with major press coverage like Invisible Children and the Kony 2012 campaign. The unintended consequence of these shocking images, presented for the heartfelt purpose of raising awareness, is this: the single story. We have a few images serving as one generic story representing an entire continent of countries and cultures.

The complexities, variations, and even just the common middle-class, everyday lives that exist in African countries are reduced to this single story: of starving, war-torn people waiting for the rest of the world to save them by donating a few dollars, or by buying a "buy one give one" pair of Toms shoes.

War Witch embodies the single story that many Westerners think of the "country of Africa" because we simply meld all African countries together into one homogeneous war-torn state. In fact, War Witch doesn't even differentiate which country or war the story represents. The setting is simply "Africa." The Beauty of War Witch As I watched the first few scenes of the film, the tragedy of the child soldier story quickly become apparent as the movie's story. I was initially disappointed as it is a story with which I'm already familiar. Luckily, the beauty of this film's simplicity also became apparent. Without much dialogue, we as an audience were able to suspend our disbelief and appreciate the supernatural aspects of the story as a child's attempt to cope with the tragedies she faces. We watch as she deals with death, separation, and heartbreak while she is haunted by ghosts of her parents. The ghosts aren't cheesy nor are they scary, they are simply haunting reminders that the soul of the main character is not at rest.

While the child conveys strength through each atrocity she faces, we as an audience are reminded by the white ghosts that she is not at ease. Title slides appear at different moments throughout the film and denote our young protagonist's ages throughout the film: 12, 13 and 14 years old. Displaying her age, rather than a date and time, reminds us of the innocence robbed as we travel with the main character through her struggles as she "forces tears back into her eyes." Were it not for these displays of her age, we would forget that the strength shown by the young woman is actually shown by a child. Nguyen excels at reminding the audience of this, in portraying the child's coping mechanisms through supernatural visions, and at having us witness tragedy without astoundingly gory scenes that, while they may be more accurate, would distract from our journey with the child.

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There are already a few pieces of movies with the same core reference to child soldiers in Africa. They all had one thing in common - they showed us an overall birds-eye view of what child soldiering was like. This movie appeared to be steered in a different way. It is not an overall picture of things, but rather a personal ordeal told from a strong-willed girl.

Aside from some of the the wishy washy 'voodoo' and romance elements of it, there are many things worth pointing out from this movie. The key attraction is of course the fantasy side of things which artistically fit very well into the overall story. But ultimately it is a heartwarming story of survival.

The style used in this movie reminded me of City of God, not because of whether it possess the same style or the gore behind it (well it was not that gory), but the music used and the tone of the setting are unique in its own way.