Five-Word Review: Uncompromisingly Brutal, Wonderfully Acted, Overlong

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2016)

The first in what is sure to be a long era of Netflix films, Beasts of No Nation, helmed by True Detective Season 1's Cary Fukunaga, tracks a young boy, Agu, in an unnamed West African country ravaged by civil war who is taken under the wing of the charismatic Rebel Commandant (Idris Elba) after his family is killed by government forces. What follows is hard to watch but simultaneously hard to turn away from.
A Zeitgeist issue was exploited for Hollywood in Oscar-baiting transgender form in 2015 for Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl. Zeitgeist in 2015 was used to a far better effect in Beasts of No Nation. The issue of civil wars' human costs and refugees strikes a chord with more and more people every day, so this gritty and realistic war drama is extremely necessary viewing. This should become the definitive film on child soldiers. Speaking of child soldiers, this film also features what is possibly the greatest ensemble of child actors that I have ever seen in a film, led by the spectacular performance by the lead, Abraham Attah, who plays Agu. Somehow lending gravitas and evoking pathos that even successful adult actors fail to do, Attah outshines even the SAG award-winning Elba. The Luther star steals his scenes, making grand war speeches before leading the children into battle and charismatically talking his way out of situations, but empty underneath - which the film delves into. This masterclass of acting supports Fukunaga's direction which, through the use of colour and cinematography, creates a dynamic, harshly beautiful African landscape. For example, a scene where a character takes drugs and becomes hallucinatory turns the busy into a nightmarish jungle scene soaked with red. The score is also good: pulsating, pounding notes set the tone of intense scenes. Realism and grit define this film.
On the negative side, the pacing is certainly off in this film. The first act is great, setting up Agu amongst his family in the village, and the lighter tone makes this sequence entertaining, with interesting characters. The second act is even better, as Agu flees and meets the rebels under the Commandant, and most of the memorable scenes (including a brutal standout scene involving a machete), but, without spoiling anything, the third act, after some characters leave a certain place, goes somewhat off the rails in terms of pacing, despite an unforgettable trench scene. Then comes the ending which feels stunted and somewhat rushed. There are several places where it seems like it's going to end, but keeps going uncertainly, before resolving itself with a wonderful final shot. The dark brutality is interspersed with moments of levity and, towards the end, hope, yet overall Beasts of No Nation is admirably realistic. The decision to have characters talk in their own languages, which was also on display in another Netflix production, Narcos, lends to this realism. Overall, it's an intelligent and uncompromising look at what really happens to people caught in a war, and is a great watch despite its flaws. 79/100.