Beasts of No Nation
2015 · Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga
Original language: English
- drama
- war
The story
Based on the experiences of Agu, a child fighting in the civil war of a West African country. Follows Agu's journey as he's forced to join a group of soldiers. While he fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination.
What it’s like
Restless handheld camera pressed close to a boy's face, then pulled back to wide, humid green jungle under hard equatorial sun, with dust hanging in the air and the palette washed toward ochre, olive and bruised blue. Night scenes lean on flickering firelight and torchlight, so faces emerge from black in fragments. The score is sparse and hollow, with low drones and sudden percussive stabs that make the quiet between gunfire feel more threatening than the shots themselves. Violence is frequent and unflinching: shootings, beatings, executions and a child's brutal killing are shown up close, and drug use by the fighters is a constant unsettling presence. Its mood is grim, feverish and dread-heavy, with moments of misplaced tenderness that make the horror harder to look away from. Pacing is steady and immersive rather than fast, and the emotional arc follows a frightened, uprooted boy whose sense of self is slowly being hollowed out. This is not gentle viewing. It suits adults who want a serious, harrowing war drama about childhood and atrocity, watched with full attention rather than in the background.
More films like Beasts of No Nation
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Beasts of No Nationand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
