With his adaptation of the Uzodinma Iweala novel “Beasts of No Nation,” Cary Fukunaga offers film audiences a haunting depiction of the child soldiers of war-torn Africa.
The film is shown through the eyes of Adu, a young boy of an unnamed nation experiencing turmoil and displacement amid violent uprisings. He is as carefree as a youth could be, considering their homeland is on the verge of civil war. Adu and his friends fill their days with new adventures to fill the days now that school is no longer an option.
Charming, inquisitive, resourceful and precocious, Adu does his best to make sure the unrest doesn’t impede on the fun of his childhood.
But in an instant the war displaces and ultimately destroys his family dynamic – one that was surprisingly sound under the circumstances that saw his community become collateral damage in the battle between the government and rebel soldiers.
Adu’s support system is snatched from under his feet. He is then forced into a free-fall descent from innocent, terrified child to a war machine with a nonfunctional moral compass, completely desensitized to violence and the value of human life.
“Beasts of No Nation” never justifies the actions of the child soldiers of the rebel factions nor the death and destruction they left in their wake.
But it takes the rare approach of capturing the tragic phenomenon from the start of the cycle. Audiences will see how warlords capitalized on the fragile, post-traumatic mental state of the children to get them to do the unthinkable and perpetuate the same murderous havoc that tore their own families apart.
The film also shows how the child soldiers – and their victims – are merely pawns in the game for wealth, power and domination.
As a charismatic devil in combat boots, Idris Elba as the rebel warlord known as “Commandant” is the only recognizable name among a formidable cast of unknowns.
With behavior patterns strikingly similar to an abusive patriarch of a dysfunctional home, Commandant coerces his army comprised mostly of children into unspeakable acts. He could turn on a dime from a tender father figure who appears emotionally invested to terrorizing sadist.
As the second wave of irreparable emotional terror is imposed on Adu and the army, audiences will be struck by their descent into anarchy – and how their unspeakable acts will most certainly produce an unbearable emotional toll for the few who manage to move beyond their circumstances.
With “Beasts of No Nation,” Netflix’s movie arm has thrust itself into Oscar contender territory – mostly thanks to the stunning big screen debut of Ghanaian actor Abraham Attah as Adu. The 14-year-old has already earned top actor honors at The Venice Film Festival, and more prizes will surely follow with the upcoming award season.
So unfiltered that it is nearly impossible to digest, “Beasts of No Nation” is one of those films that lingers in the soul. This part of the world has the luxury of only a casual knowledge (at best) of the life of child soldiers.
The film’s unfiltered presentation is so raw and riveting that it is almost impossible to accept the experiences within the film as a part of any human’s reality.
“Beasts of No Nation” is now streaming on Netflix and open at select theatres nationwide.
