Review: Beasts of No Nation (2015) · 5:16pm Dec 30th, 2015
Cary Fukunaga's brutal, intense and uncompromising study of the life of a child soldier is an astounding entry in an already astoundingly strong career, and a moving, deeply intimate and tragic look into a corner of the world that is often neglected.
Not only directing the film, but also writing, producing, and lensing it, Fukunaga proves to be a director to watch with his third feature. With an eye already known for immersive intimacy and subtle stylism that was so beautifully showcased in Jane Eyre and True Detective's first season, Fukunaga's direction is pitch-perfect. Blending ornate, complex tracking shots with dynamic handheld, slow motion, and use of mostly natural light, Fukunaga perfectly immerses us into the world of Agu, a young child who is drafted into the ranks of a rebel warlord known only as The Commandant. Unflinching in its portrait of the horrors of war, Fukunaga steadily spins the film out over its two hour, seventeen minute running time, in a manner not unlike that of Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Apocalypse Now, but made all the more horrific and sobering with the realization that this hell exists right now, in the actual, present day world, and not some historical conflict.
Abraham Attah is a revelation as Agu, our main focus. Having to tackle such an ocean of complex, heavy emotions and content, Attah does so with an accomplished naturalism, and speaks the recurrent narration with a world weary sadness and melancholy that is palpable. He is never false, and is one of the best child performances I've seen put to screen.
Idris Elba is an astounding monster of a man as the charismatic yet unrepentantly evil Commandant, who carries with him a sense of demonic control and evil about him. Mixing raw savagery and depravity with an undeniable charisma and magnetism, Elba crafts a finely textured, rich performance, and one that richly deserves more notice.
Dan Romer's score is an ethereal, richly emotive work, as an ebbing stream of complex synth chords mix with acoustic instruments, creating one of the best scores of 2015. A vital facet of the film's emotional palette, it's a truly great work.
And so, in the end, Beasts of No Nation is a devastatingly real and visceral exploration of the horrors of war, all from the unique point of view of a child soldier, and one of the most disgustingly overlooked films of 2015. A true masterpiece from a director who seems to be ascending to even greater heights with each project, Fukunaga proves to be a master of his craft, and an amazingly intimate and uncompromising film maker.
5 out of 5 stars.