Review of Beasts of No Nation (2015) by Mark M — 20 Oct 2015

Led by True Detective's Cary Joji Fukunaga, slapped with the "A Netflix Original Film" brand, swarmed by the boycott controversy by major cinema chains in America, and along with its heavy subject matter, Beasts of No Nation is a tough watch, as beautifully shot and powerfully acted as it may be, the latter of which is - oddly - not carried solely by Elba's presence on-screen, but even by the non-actors Abraham Attah and Emmanuel Nii; the latter of whom plays Strika, a mute child soldier and friend of Attah's Agu. Taking on the role as the film's cinematographer, and utilizing his fascination with tracking shots, Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation could very well be mistaken as being shot by a veteran cinematographer, particularly a 3-minute tracking shot of Agu's group storming a building and the infrared sequence of the Commandant's entire battalion massacring a village.

Narrated by Attah, Beasts of No Nation follows Agu from his village in an unnamed African village, as he is torn away from his family as the war envelops his once safe village, to the moment he meets Elba's Commandant, the beret-wearing leader of a rebel faction waging their own war against the government. And it is at this point that it becomes evident that the Commandant is a vector of many cult icons from the past, particularly Che Guevara. Performed by Elba's natural commanding presence and voice, the Commandant leads his unit - or 'family' - of mostly children and teenagers into life-and-certain death skirmishes under proxy orders of his commandant. But as previously mentioned, Elba's performance is accompanied by those of Attah and Nii's, both of whom lack any experience in acting; the former smiles and hides the pain in plain sight, while Nii delivers a quiet, physical performance, as the performances of both rival those of seasoned actors.

Though by no means ground-breaking or revolutionary, Beasts of No Nation nonetheless lives up to expectations, delivering a gritty, dark tale of child soldiers birthed through Africa's unending civil wars, and with Fukunaga at the helm - adapting Uzodinma Iweala's novel -, the film effectively delves into both wrenching and repulsive subject matter as it attempts a hand at deconstructing the power of cult figures and the ravaging effects of war on a child's psychology. Even as the film, chucking one atrocity after another at the viewer, glamorizing neither, comes to a standstill in its finale, Fukunaga opts out of "Hollywood-izing" the ending, and instead settles on framing the series of end sequences on the true reality of war; Beasts of No Nation is by no means American Sniper.