This is a story of loss and rebirth (SPOILERS)

Rating: 8/10 (8 May 2017)

The movie starts out following a typical middle-class family living in a small village in what appears to be West Africa. The movie then expands the context and shows us that the town is in the middle of a battle between the corrupt and violent United Nations backed government forces and the ragged pack of rebel fighters.
As the peaceful townspeople decide to ship away women and children to allow the men to stay back and fight, there is no room for some of the younger boys, so they are also to stay behind. Agu, the film's protagonist, ends up witnessing the United Nations backed government forces senselessly execute all of his family members that remained in the village. Fortunately, Agu is able to flee these mentally disturbed, deranged, blood-thirsty, war mongering United Nations backed government forces as he runs deep into the bush.
Now orphaned, Agu is on his own in the wild. It appears that he will have no chance of survival, as he can not even light himself a fire and is not sure of what he can eat. Fortunately, the story's hero, known as the "Commandant" (played by Idris Elba), has managed to save many other UN backed government created orphans. Commandant's crew of orphaned boys stumbles upon helpless little Agu. Much of the movie is related to how Commandant takes little Agu under his wing, teaches him survival, feeds him, clothes him, and allows him to exact his revenge on the evil UN backed government forces.
Commandant is shown to be leading a pack of what appears to be 20 to 30 other boys and young adults, all presumably orphaned similarly to Agu and all with a thirst for revenge on those that murdered their families. Throughout the film, Commandant is first shown as a heroic warrior, then a wise leader, and then devolves into an ordinary human being. Although he is a true leader, he also answers to an authority. When he finds out that his authority cares more about political aspirations than providing justice, he tries to oust Commandant from his post. Commandant then goes rogue and takes his orphaned boy tribe with him. It is somewhat similar to Colonel Kurtz's situation in "Apocalypse Now", with the exception that Commandant does not really have a clue on how to lead a group of rogue dissidents.
Ultimately, his orphans desert him due to lack of food, water, and hope. Commandant's demise can be attributed to the corrupt nature of war and the western world's political influences. Deep down, he was shown to be a genuinely good man, fighting for justice, all while being a protector and guardian of many orphaned children.
Many will see this movie from a different perspective. One of the themes of the movie, which is something that plays out every day in real life, is that the subtle authoritarian rule of western governments is both the cause and solution to many of life's problems. First, they were directly responsible for the bloody and senseless murder of the families of many of these children. Secondly, as we see toward the end of the movie, these children are placed in a government-run school to learn and survive. Government creates the problems and then attempts to fix them. However, they did achieve their main goal. The villages they needed to eradicate are now gone, with all remaining residents under the guardianship of the state.
This movie is a great example of how innocent lives are taken, families are destroyed, and entire communities are eliminated due to the military involvement of western societies. There is no doubt that this story is being played out for real in the Middle East and all over Africa due to both the United States' and many European countries' perpetual foreign intervention campaigns.