Movie Review | London Film Festival: Beasts of No Nation (Lights, Camera, Action!) Page 1

Movie Review | London Film Festival: Beasts of No Nation (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Beasts of No Nation (UK Rating: 15)

Civil war rages in an unnamed African country and the worst is yet to come in an unnamed village. The children still have the freedom to play football and sell whatever junk they can to obliging government soldiers, but then the rebels arrive and all vestiges of childhood are swept away.
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It's the setting for the first feature film from Netflix, Beasts of No Nation, which has just screened at the London Film Festival and starts streaming at the end of this week, and it's not just its pedigree that's been attracting attention. Produced by Idris Elba, who seems to have the magic touch at the moment, it deals with a controversial and harrowing subject - child soldiers. The film follows the nightmare journey of young Agu (Abraham Attah) who is captured by the rebels when they overrun his village and forced to fight alongside them. To survive, he has to be like the others - follow The Commander (Idris Elba) with unquestioning loyalty, obey orders, and fight. Murder, abuse, and blood, all become a way of life.

It's something of an epic, if not an endurance, test. Not in the Gladiator sense, though, but because of its universal subject matter: Agu's experiences echo those of so many other children, and not just in the 21st Century. There's also its length, a chunky two hours ten minutes looking at the darkest side of human nature. Prepare to be battered and emotionally exhausted.

This is a one-message film and the fact that the same message is repeated over and over again makes it feel untidy and ill-disciplined. That aside, though, the pity of Agu's situation, and all the other boys, is heart wrenching. He's a symbol for them all, squelching through the water of a World War I-style trench, rifle over his back, tin helmet on his head, and a cigarette dangling from his lips: a little old man in a young boy's body, incongruous and tragic at the same time, it's one of the most lingering images of the film, as is the moment when all the boys who have had to behave like adults are rounded up by UN troops. Soldiers for the past couple of hours on screen, they are ordered to put their hands on their heads, revealing a line of hairless armpits; they are still just children.

Producer and star, Idris Elba, delivers an excellent performance as The Commander - manipulative, domineering and truly loathsome. He relishes playing mind games with the young boys under his command to keep them in line, and exerts his power physically, as well, in the worst possible way, but Abraham Attah, the 14-year-old non-actor playing Agu, steals it from right under Elba's nose. He takes the audience by the hand and guides it through a horrific world, and his own shattered life, yet, somehow, the vulnerable child is always still there. It's a profoundly moving piece of acting.

The film has already attracted awards speculation, as well as two trophies at Venice, where it received its world premiere. Recent outings at Toronto and Telluride, as well as last week at the LFF, will help in its quest to be regarded as a contender, at the very least. It's also set a precedent as the first original Netflix film to be shown at major film festivals before it starts streaming. Its viewing figures and Box Office takings should make interesting reading.

7/10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Beasts of No Nation is a tough film about an even tougher subject. It pulls very few punches, depicting a horrific world through a mixture of explicit and implicit violence, and while it plays much the same note throughout, it still boasts some excellent acting, especially from teenager Abraham Attah. He's a heartbreaking find.