Beasts of No Nation (2015) - Cary Fukunaga

Cary Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation is a extremely well-acted, well-photographed piece of film-making that unfortunately misses the mark when it comes to being something truly special.  Telling the story of Agu, a young boy, who is forced to join a group of rebel soldiers in an unnamed African country, Beasts of No Nation exerts almost all of its energy to capture the loss of innocence associated with these child soldiers, never holding back in its depiction of the primal violence and bloodshed that has essentially become common place in parts of Africa.  Beats of No Nation is a film I would describe as all bark but no bite, relying far too heavily on the audience's built in empathy for children forced into battle, unable to ask the tough questions or create its own sense of emotion outside of what is already built in given the subject matter.  The film dances around the political and financial aspects of the wars in Africa, as well as the dangers of faith-driven violence, but Beasts of No Nation never attempts to understand them in the slightest, perfectly complacent in simply presenting the brutality of Africans on one and other, in an unnamed country, without even attempting to deconstruct the root of the problem.  Beasts of No Nation is powerful filmmaking sure, but it didn't leave much of a psychological imprint on me at all, being more a well-crafted show piece of the darkness of African civil war.  Make no mistake, the characterization and narrative of Agu, going from innocent young boy to stone-cold killer is certainly effective at capturing this, but did you really need a film to show you these horrors?  Personally, I have questions of why this film was made in the first place, as it feels a little too comfortable simply presenting the brutality of the situation in parts of Africa while never digging deeper, which I'm sure is more than enough for most people, but personally I need more of a reason to bother.  The film seems so intent on wowing the viewer with the brutality and unbelievable circumstances that these characters find themselves in that it feels VERY self-conscious, and I'd argue that Fukunaga, who is unquestionable a smart filmmaker, knew exactly what he was doing, as the intro scene, where the boys play with a hollowed-out television, foreshadows the film's own desire to shock and awe the viewer.  The loss of innocence aspect of Beasts of No Nation is obviously its strongest attribute, and Fukunaga does do some nice things throughout the film to amplify the tragedy involved in children being forced into conflict.  It's used sparingly, but I like how there are a few scenes throughout the film that show the child soldiers playing, like children, as if Fukunaga wants to remind the audience that even though we've just witnessed them commit unspeakably brutal acts they are still children, who simply can't completely expel their youthful exuberance no matter how desensitized to violence they become.  Featuring stellar performances from Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, as well as skilled direction for Cary Fukunaga,  Beasts of No Nation is a showcase film of performance and direction that unfortunately has little to say outside of what we already know.

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