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BEASTS OF NO NATION – The Review – We Are Movie Geeks

Review

BEASTS OF NO NATION – The Review

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Cinema can often be a doorway to witness events going on far from your hometown theatre (or multiplex). I’m talking of real events, often things more horrific than anything screenwriters can type up. Just last year a Best Picture Oscar went to 12 YEARS A SLAVE, which was based on a memoir from over a hundred years ago. SCHINDLER’S LIST also took the big prize nearly twenty years ago for a true tale from, then, just fifty years in the past. The tale told in this new film is ongoing, even as we view the story from the comfort of our theatre seats. It’s the tragedy of the use of child soldiers, boys not yet ten years old, in the near constant civil wars that plague the African continent. Yes, it was a part of the recent films THE GOOD LIE and MACHINE GUN PREACHER, but this new release puts us side by side with a young boy as he is swept up into a sea of brutality. Much has been made in the movie industry press about the fact that this is the first theatrical release from Netflix, the company known for streaming film through the internet into your home. They could’ve gone with a frothy “rom-com” or a CGI-filled fantasy adventure, something fun and “safe”. Instead they went with one of the most powerful, important motion pictures of the year, BEASTS OF NO NATION.

This is the story of Agu (Abraham Attah), who also narrates his story, a young lad of eight or nine. He lives a poor, but idyllic life in his dusty (unnamed) African village. It’s in a “buffer zone” a protected area from the battles being waged between the governments forces and armed rebels. Agu attends school, plays with his buddies (they make “imagin-TV”), helps his parents and siblings. But then the “zone” is dissolved and word comes that the fighting will soon be at their doorsteps. Because of the lack of motor vehicles, only the women and babies can be sent away, to the nation’s capital. There’s no room for Agu on the last truck leaving, so he will stay with his father and big brother. When the tanks roll in, they try to hide along with the rest of the men of the town. But the soldiers find them and accuse them of being rebels. Agu escapes the execution and dashes into the jungle. The hungry and frightened boy is soon picked up by a gang of rebels hiding in the wilderness. The troop’s leader, Commandant (Idris Elba) tells his underlings that Agu could be of some use since “little fingers can pull triggers”. Agu has no choice but to be trained to kill. Alongside his new friend and mentor, the silent Strika (Emmanuel Nii Adorn Quaye), the ragtag rebels cut a bloody trail through the land. Soon, Agu gives up hope of being with his beloved mother and younger siblings and becomes a brutal single-minded soldier.

The best known actor in the cast is, of course, the talented Mr. Elba. Why he’s part of the “Marvel movie universe” as Thor’s pal Heimdall and his name is frequently bandied about as the next 007 via several online campaigns. So it may surprise many moviegoers that he’s portraying such a throughly despicable person in this new film. And bravo to him for lending his efforts and fame to this production. We can understand why the Commandant has mesmerized these young men and boys. He looms over nearly everyone, speaking in an almost gutteral growl that intimidates and inspires. He’s equal parts father, wizard, and perhaps the fiercest of beasts. As formidable a performance as Elba gives, it’s in service to the astounding, heart-breaking debut of Attah as Agu. We see this hostile world through his unblinking eyes, a witness to unremitting horror and brutality. In the film’s opening, carefree minutes, he could be any playful, sweet child of ours, that mischievous son, nephew, cousin. When evil visits his world, Attah shows us the confusion and panic as he is suddenly on his own. He gives us a look at how his childhood is ripped away, how a boy can be turned into an uncaring weapon. The promising light in his eyes becomes dulled until he’s merely a killing robot. What little humanity that’s left is seen when with his only friend Strika played by the mute Quaye, who conveys his lost innocence without words, so scarred that he has no use for speech. These phenomenal young men are the heart and soul of this sad saga.

Cary Joji Fukunaga earned much acclaim last year for his direction of the entire first season (eight hours) of HBO’s hit “True Detective” and now establishes himself as a major film making force with his triple threat work here in direction, screen adaptation (from the novel by Uzodinma Iweala) and cinematography. He expertly goes from the tranquil beauty of nature in the training scenes to the chaos and madness of the conflict. Cary pulls no punches as the boys are forced to take a life, we’re right next to them as they spill blood for the first, and far from last, time. Every bit of abuse of these boys, the physical, verbal, and sexual are captured with an unflinching eye. This is a passionate expose, a call to action that never overshadows the personal story of Agu, who may represent thousands still trapped in the same Hellish torment. Despite the subtitles you may strain to decipher the dialogue, but the unforgettable images will pull you along, until these “freedom fighters” give in to ego and petty jealousy. The intense matter and violence may be the reason why the film has no rating, although it stars children, it’s really not for their viewing (it’s probably because one of the rebels has an aversion to…pants). But for mature, serious audiences BEASTS OF NO NATION is one of the strongest, dramatic cinema experiences ever.

4.5 Out of 5

BEASTS OF NO NATION streams on Netflix starting on October 16. It  also opens in theatres everywhere and screens exclusively in St. Louis at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

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Jim Batts was a contestant on the movie edition of TV's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in 2009 and has been a member of the St. Louis Film Critics organization since 2013.