Review of War Witch (2012) by Dave C — 09 May 2013

Rebelle (War Witch) is an absolutely stunning film. About child soldiers in an unnamed African country (it was filmed in the Congo) and with a calm voiceoever almost like Malick's Days Of Heaven but which now covers an almost total inhumanity as a rebel army fights the government in a civil war where no one knows or cares what it is about.

Komona is an eleven year old when she is kidnapped and forced to shoot her parents to save her own live. Thereafter she learns to survive and even to bloom in the most bizarre of circumstances. Religion or what most westerners would call superstition is all important and sits at the heart of the film.

The specific use of the voiceover was surprising to me even though I had read reviews and I'm not about to spill it, but do try and see this film.The FX, for what they are, are sensational simply because of their ordinariness, but then so is the violence that runs throughout the film.