Review of Beasts of No Nation (2015) by Foxgrove — 13 Nov 2015

I approached ‘Beasts of No Nation’ cautiously, and somewhat reluctantly, drawn by the critical praise with which it has been bestowed. I must admit for the first 20 minutes or so I felt that my fears were to be realised. The story of a young African boy’s training to become a soldier fighting in a civil war contains all the politics and brutality that I was dreading. However, the film is so compelling in the way it draws you into the soldiers’ lives; their rituals, training, day to day survival etc, that one soon becomes transfixed by events however brutal or unsavoury. Ultimately, aside from one very nasty and explicit ritual execution, the violence is not quite as bad as one had feared and it is probably the least amount required within such a brutal context. The eerie music adds its own horrific tone but, amongst all this ugliness the stunningly beautiful cinematography acts like an antidote.

The film is confidently realised by director Cary Joji Fukunaga (also the cinematographer) and the editing constantly makes the right cut and keeps the tension ever present. The sound is not always clear, although this is more likely to do with the accents of its cast rather than a technical anomaly. Strangely, at its end, the film leaves you feeling somewhat brutalised even as you conversely feel enriched.