A brilliant, urgent and overlooked film

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2017)

I watched this on Netflix (where it exclusively available). It's the story of a child soldier fighting a civil war in an unnamed African country (filmed in Ghana). It's terrific. It features two wonderful performances. One from Idris Elba, as the commander of the boy soldiers, transforming them from children to killers; he's terrifyingly charismatic, and really makes you believe the relationship between him and his chargers. The second is from Abraham Attah as the boy at the heart of it all, taking us on a mesmeric and heartbreaking journey.
Horrifying as it is, we are spared many of the real horrors of war whilst still letting us feel the impact of the atrocities on both victims and perpetrators. The cinematography brings the colours of the bush to life, the dust almost seeping under your fingernails as you watch; the music is beautiful and, along with the almost at times poetic script, this both offsets and points up the horror of events portrayed. It's a brilliant and urgent film, without a white saviour in sight, which Netflix (who put up the money for the production when it was threatened with going under) are to be commended for taking a risk on it.
The reasons for it being overlooked in awards is obvious and twofold - endemic racism in the film industry and fear of the future as a streaming service trumps the film's very limited cinema release. If you have Netflix, search it out; if you don't, it's one of many good reasons to fork out for a subscription.