I couldn't finish it

Rating: 5/10 (8 February 2016)

It started off great. Few war movies are so inspiring. Idris Elba was amazing, and I think Abraham Attah could give Haley Joel Osmont a run for his money in the "Best Child Actor Performance of All Time" category. The cinematography was great, the landscape in which it was shot was a beautiful jungle, the murder of Agu's dad and brother and the first couple of battle scenes were touching, and the Commandant and Agu were both inspiring and very admirable characters. But then it took a sick, twisted turn for the worse.
I read the synopsis. I think it's safe to say that 90% of people who watched this movie would've hoped it went a different way. Everything about the film was great, except for the plot itself. The Commandant became a rapist, and Agu became a druggie.
Why? Why couldn't this have been a movie about an army of African child soldiers led by an inspiring revolutionary who overcame odds and defeated the government? But no, this has to be a messed up story about a revolutionary leader who gives a whole speech to Agu about how he sees leadership in him, and then proceeds to rape him. His speeches talked about the rape prevalent in their country that was a result of the government, yet he is a perpetrator of it himself!
I know this was based on a book, and people would've been outraged if it was a bad adaption and left things out, so I guess I'm targeting the author here, but why couldn't it have been at least half of a happy story? Lots of movies end with the antagonists winning, but usually we are secretly rooting for them in some way, or at least something decently good happens. Nothing positive takes place in this movie. Nothing at all.
If there were no drug problems, no rape, and the Commandant faithfully led his battalion without any worries about pay or twisted fantasies, and then they failed, then I would've been okay with it. But this movie just doesn't please the viewer at all.
I know that there are many stories like this in Africa, and screwed up events like this take place, probably more often than anyone would expect, but this movie fails to present a point it is trying to make or a theme they are trying to bring out that most movies in which the opposite of what the viewers want to happen usually have. It's just disappointing.