Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Despite living in relative poverty, Agu's life depicted early in Beasts of No Nation is Eden-like when compared to the journey ahead.

Funny moments with Agu's brother exist as they tease one another and legitimately fight; Agu and his friends devise schemes to guilt the UN soldiers stationed nearby, seeking both attention and rations. A truly funny moment is when Agu's father discovers his TV has been cannibalized for one of Agu's games. All of this is important because it paints the picture of a difficult life, but one where childhood is still being lived out normally.

Conflict arrives, with acrimony and acronyms, closely mimicking the faction warfare we have seen play out in real life. Idris Elba delivers a command performance as the Commandant, creating a strong image the moment he saunters on screen. He also immediately states one of his most defining characteristics: when he looks at a child, he sees a dangerous soldier. This is the evil heart at the center of the film, explored through Agu's metamorphosis from gentle child to ruthless warrior.

Agu was once the sort of boy who dragged branches into the road to beg pettily and mischievously; this was the height of his evil. Later, we see him gunning people down indiscriminately and living in a constant state of psychological instability, becoming addicted to drugs to cope. The battles are shot in a deliberate but frantic way, dragging the viewer, willing or not, into Agu’s world.

Attracted to children in all ways, the Commandant is intentionally only thinly disguised as a man in possession of true power. The audience sees this when the mighty Commandant is kept waiting by his financier and true master. Despite his cult of personality and his abilities, the Commandant is just another man with a rifle in the bush; this is proven later when he is overthrown by his discontented soldiers who are living in misery.

Perhaps the film's most important question comes near the finale as we see Agu and other child soldiers undergoing reform. Agu's peers are wild, often acting out and even destroying parts of the facility housing them. The viewer is left to wonder: robbed of their childhood and having seen it replaced by violence, can these children ever be normal again?

Agu directly comments on this, comparing himself to an old man, and a woman to a small girl, because he has seen warfare and she has not. We are encouraged when, later, Agu runs to join and play with the other children, answering the film's central question: there still remains hope

A challenging watch, a fantastic story, and an unforgettable war film, Beasts of No Nation tackles some of the hardest subjects imaginable with a deep sense of honesty and urgency.