Sun, why are you shining in this world? I am wanting to catch you in my hands, to squeeze you until you cannot shine no more. That way, everything is always dark, and nobody’s ever having to see all the terrible things that are happening here.
~
These lines are punctuated carefully by the soft voice over of a boy, barely pubescent, skinny and dead tired, rummaging through the jungles of an unnamed African country in search for food. He disturbs the peace of a pair of crickets, catching them with his calloused, gunpowder-coated hands, and munches on one. His name is Agu, and he is a rebel soldier – a child in the middle of a war.
Beasts of No Nation is Netflix’s pioneering foray into feature films. Directed and written for the screen by Cary Joji Fukunaga based on the novel of Uzodinma Iweala, Beasts is relentless and unflinching. It fleshes out the brutal corruption of child soldiers in a fictional civil war. It is told through the eyes of Agu (played by the film’s breakout lead, Abraham Attah), such innocent eyes which are eventually smeared by crimson-drenched lenses, and the harrowing truths he witnesses remain long after these eyes have closed.
Agu had a family, once. He used to live with them in a so-called buffer zone, which no other forces (from both the government army and the rebels) can penetrate. What could have been a home for Agu in the midst of the ravages of war, however, is gone too soon, as an unexpected ambush has befallen. The bullets drop like rain, and leaves puddles of tears and blood.
Agu manages to escape, and finds himself in the company of the Commandant (Idris Elba) and his rebel warriors. Agu is soon trained under the Commandant’s wing as the latest addition to his army of child soldiers, and the atrocities of the war eventually coagulate and dry up the remaining ounce of innocence left in Agu. Like an unforgiving blow of the blade of a machete cracking open a skull, there is no definite transition as to when a child loses grasp of the good. In war, there is no warning when a boy ceases to be a child.
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Elba constructs a fully-realized villain in the Commandant. The ruthlessness is there, but is trumped by the charisma of a messianic leader who never forgets he is human. The debut of the erstwhile unknown Abraham Attah as Agu is magnetic on screen. The film spends a great deal of time staring into the eyes of Agu, which speaks wave after wave of pent-up emotion, especially in the movie’s last scenes. This effect can either be imagined by the audience, or intentionally conveyed by such underplayed acting. It is through these particularly brilliant actors that the movie shines more than it intends to.
On the contrary, there is a feeling that Beasts exerts too much effort into brandishing the horrors of a fictional war. The lack of actual historical context blunts the gravity of its horrors. It has laid out the usual fixtures of the genre – bloodshed left and right, bullets to numerous heads, but the director is fortunately careful not to overdo anything. Clearly, the film is bidding for the awards season.
Beasts of No Nation is a gamble for Netflix, as it is a film that demands attention and patience in its slow-burn pace and fatalistic affectations. Whether it finds a rightful (or a handful of) audience serves less importance to the voice that has clearly found itself: Beasts of No Nation is a war film that has found a voice for children who are forced to grow up too fast, for a boy who has killed men, for villains who grew tired from the good, and for the victims of the monstrosities that serve no goddamn purpose. These are of the same voice, as the wars make no men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xb9Ty-1frw
