Although I have a broad taste in movies, the horror genre is one that I really avoid. I simply don’t enjoy making myself voluntarily uncomfortable, I don’t have that need. Give me a good action film or a wonderful documentary and I’m sure to have a great time. Netflix has a wide range for those tastes and in recent years the company has become a provider of many films and series that are worth watching. To ensure that they stay ahead of HBO they started making their own series, with great success (think Orange is the New Black or House of Cards).
Beasts of No Nation is their first “feature” film, which wasn’t only released on their own service, but was also shown in a limited number of cinemas on the same day. Although Netflix normally doesn’t release any numbers, they were proud to announce it had been watched three million times. But because huge numbers are no guarantee of a good movie (think Transformers), the question is whether Beasts of No Nation is a successful first step into their own movies.
The film is set in Africa where the young Aku (Abraham Attah) leads a peaceful life. Together with his friends he occasionally tries to sell something to the soldiers who keep the peace and lives a fairly carefree life. But that changes when rebels invade his village and he witnesses how almost everyone he knows is killed. He manages to escape into the jungle and runs into a rebel group led by Commander (Idris Elba). Scared and insecure he is brought into the group where he will have to prove himself as a child soldier and where his innocence is rapidly by his survival instinct, where nothing and no one is an obstacle.
That terrible things happen in wars comes as no surprise, but the way in which director Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) brings that to the screen, from the perspective of a child, makes each event more shocking. One example is a moment where Aku (very well played by Attah) is given a machete and ordered to murder an innocent man with it. Idris Elba plays Commandant as an efficient leader who keeps his troops permanently motivated to do whatever he instructs them, no matter how awful through inspirational speeches and ruthless choices.
I may not be a fan of horror, but Beast of No Nation shows images that are scarier than the scariest horror film, because you know that the situations in the film actually occur and that is a very frightening thought.
Great review. This one really stuck with me after viewing. I don’t know if it was eligible (not sure how it works with Netflix), but the Oscars omitting this movie for picture/acting was ridiculous. Especially Abraham Attah…that kid was phenomenal!
Thanks Courtney. It was eligible since it had a theatrical run, but weird it wasn’t mentioned indeed.