There are movies that finish, you stare at the screen for a few seconds, and you don't even know what to say. Beasts of No Nation was that kind of movie for me. It was so emotional for me, I was so emotional, after I finished watching it, I don’t know if it was a true life movie that happened exactly like that, but I know there are people that have that exact same dreadful experience that makes the movie seem so real.
I went into it knowing that it was about a young boy caught in a civil war, but knowing the premise and actually watching it are two completely different things.
The story is about Agu, a young boy whose life is destroyed by war and who is eventually pulled into the world of a group of fighters led by the Commandant. The most painful part of the film is watching Agu’s childhood disappear piece by piece.
Idris Elba as the Commandant? My Gosh! He gives one hell of a performance, is their any character this man cant play? He can be charismatic, funny and almost fatherly one moment, then terrifyingly controlling the next. That contradiction is what makes the character so fascinating. He's not presented as some cartoon villain who wakes up every morning thinking about how evil he can be. He's a person who understands exactly how to manipulate vulnerable young people but the person who really carries the movie is Abraham Attah as Agu. For a young actor, his performance is incredible. You can see the confusion, fear, anger and attempts to make sense of everything happening around him. Agu isn't born into this life, he is pushed into it.
The movie also made me think about how easily people who have never experienced war can talk about it as if it's simply a political argument, especially those who sit on the comfort of their home, clamouring for war because they watched some action movie, the truth about it is underneath all of that are ordinary people whose lives can be destroyed in a matter of hours. Children who should be worrying about school instead become concerned with staying alive. There are no laws when it comes to war, no one follows the Geneva conventions in the real sense, not even the ones who made it. War is the most ugly thing ever!
What makes the story hit so hard is the fact that Agu is just a child , who had his innocence stripped away brutally. I don't think this is a movie you're supposed to watch looking for constant entertainment. It's more of an experience, It makes you to sit with uncomfortable questions about war, power, childhood and what happens when people are repeatedly exposed to things no child should have to to be ever exposed to.
What I like also is that the movie doesn't simply say, “These people are monsters.” It makes you look at the circumstances that created them. That doesn't excuse what happens, but it makes the story more complicated. It makes it a story worth listening to.
People can be victims and perpetrators at different points in the same story. Sometimes the person who has been hurt becomes capable of hurting someone else. “Hurt people hurt people”
Beasts of No Nation isn't just about soldiers or war. It's about what happens when a society loses itself to anarchy. When the rules disappear, when institutions collapse and when children are left to survive in circumstances they never chose, humanity itself starts becoming difficult to recognize.
This isn't an easy movie to recommend by saying, “You'll have fun watching it.” You most likely won't but if you want a film that makes you think long after the credits roll, this is definitely one of them.
Image Source:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1365050/mediaindex/?ref_=mv?ref_=mv_sm
Rating: 82/100
