Very well done but very intense film

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2016)

Beasts of No Nation is really well done when it comes to the characters, scenes, and overall mood of the film. It begins from the perspective of the main character, a young boy named Agu, who is living with his loving family in a "buffer zone" of his country during a time of civil war. After his mother and baby sister leave for safety, Agu is left with his brother, father, and the other men of the zone to defend their goods; however, tragedy strikes, and Agu is left to fend for himself in the forest. He stumbles upon a rebel group that takes him in and trains him to be a child soldier. Under the guidance of the Commandant, Agu learns the ways of a soldier and sees and commits some horrible acts on others. Cary Joji Fukunaga did an amazing job of showing violent, dramatic scenes without showing too much. His unapologetic, raw scenes showed how easy it is for such a young child to become desensitized to death and become a trained killer. At one point in the film, the color of the entire scene shifts to blood red and gray. Fukunaga used this change in color to show the shift in the attitude of Agu as he sets out to kill the innocent people of a seemingly peaceful village. The story itself is difficult to watch, yet it is very real, and I think it is important to see. Overall, I really liked this film and would give it 4.5/5 stars.