Movie Review: Beasts of No Nation 2015 *A Powerful Young Boy*
Wow… I just don’t know how I am
going to write this review but well… here it goes.
A few weeks back Ghanaian media
was taken over by the story of a 14 year old Ghanaian street vendor who won an
international movie award. Personally, I was looking forward to seeing how good
this kid was in the movie to have won an award that big and how this movie shot
in Ghana would come out like. It was a bit of an uneasy wait because the
trailer promised so much and I am sure I am not the only person who just couldn’t
wait to see if it was really worth it.
Beast of No Nation tells the
story of Agu a child soldier fighting in a rebel army in a civil war for an
unknown country.
I know the plot kind of looks
simple and shallow, but the entire script of this movie (which is actually
based of a book by Uzodinma
Iweala) goes real deep. For lack of better
words …..I would describe this movie as a captivating story propelled by a Powerful
performance.
There have been many movies that also were made to
capture and tell the story of the devastating effects of civil wars or
political struggles in Africa but by far, this takes a different dimension, intended
to give us a look at the inner mental conflicts and struggles of child
soldiers.
Right from the start the story builds your interest in
the life, intelligence and leadership qualities of the lead character Agu
(Abraham Attah). Who ever made the final
casting choice to pick this young boy for this role would surely be feeling
more than fulfilled. For someone who has never acted before he was flawless in
every single scene. He was born to do
this... Abraham Attah was born to play Agu. At every point in the story line, as
his character unfolds he is able to stir up the right emotions to transform his
character to keep the viewers’ attention. He deserves all the praise he is receiving
and we can only look forward to greater performances from him.
I had keen interest in seeing how Idris Elba was
going to fit in this movie. In my personal opinion, he settled in comfortably…again.
I am yet to see a bad Idris performance. But I must admit it is very hard to
pay attention to him with young Abraham Attah stealing all of the spotlight.
It was also a good feeling seeing ace Ghanaian actors Fred Amugi, David Dontoh and Grace
Nortey in this movie. Although they didn’t have lead roles or dominating
characters I am content knowing that these GREATS haven’t been forgotten and
were given a chance to contribute to this massive global hit. It also starred the
beautiful and talented Ama
K Abrebese. Although she seemed to have been struggling with speaking twi
she did own her character as well.
In all there was nothing majorly wrong with the acting
and performances. Even the extras and supporting cast were spot on in their
deliveries. I don’t know much about the
director Cary Joji
Fukunaga’s work but I am more than impressed with his work on this movie
and I wouldn’t hesitate to watch anything else he is associated with. He did an amazingly awesome job with this
movie.
For something that was shot right here in Ghana you can’t
help but be awed by the great visuals and cinematography that accompanied this
story. Although the plot does not make mention of any particular country where
it is set the makers did do well to utilize the locations at their disposal to complete
the mix needed to successfully tell this captivating story. I don’t think any Ghanaian who sees this movie
would not be impressed with the scenery just as I was.
I also liked the makeup and costuming. In fact they had
every single detail figured out and executed to perfection. Well, with an estimated budget of 6,000,000 USD
we can’t expect anything less. (Makes me wonder, will a Ghanaian production company
be able to make a movie this good with that kind of budget? I bet we will find
out soon… fingers crossed.)
Surprisingly, this movie borrowed soundtracks from
current popular songs from artiste like Sarkodie, Shatta Wale and Joey B. I don’t
know what exactly influenced the makers to do so but it seemed a bit off for me…
considering that the movie didn’t exactly tell the year or decade the plot was
set in but had that vibe or feel to it that sort of expressed it set somewhere
in the early 1990s or even much earlier. Also some of the scenes or dialogues made
references to things or happenings that might not have been around at that
time. Although these goofs are nothing major, for someone like myself who pays
close attention to petty details in a movie they can be very confusing.
Although I did not like that it ended with
several unanswered questions, its climax has a way of delivering the message
the writer intended to give with this story. A well befitting climax for this
137mins emotional journey. If you pay
close attention you are sure to pick up the underlying theme of this movie.
Overall this was more than just an averagely good
movie. It does live up to expectations.
I can guarantee that this movie would not only fascinate and entertain you, but
would also awaken you and cause you to question your thoughts on certain
aspects of human nature.
GhMoviefreak would like to score this movie a perfect
8/10. And strongly recommend that you
push it up your watchlist, you won’t regret it.
I wish we could call this movie as OUR own....I am waiting patiently for that time to be here.
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