Beasts of No Nation is a 2015 American war drama film written, co-produced and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who acted as his own cinematographer, about a young boy who becomes a child soldier as his country goes through a horrific war. Shot in Ghana and starring Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Ama K. Abebrese, Grace Nortey, David Dontoh, and Opeyemi Fagbohungbe, the film is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Uzodinma Iweala ― the book itself being named after a Fela Kuti album.
It was screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Marcello Mastroianni Award. The village is informed that the government has fallen, with military-aligned rebels seizing control of the country. With rebel forces headed towards the village, many people flee to the country's capital for safety. Agu's father is able to buy safe transport for his wife and two youngest children, but has to stay behind himself with Agu and his eldest son. Rebel and government forces fight in and around Agu's village. While the rebel soldiers flee, Agu's father and brother are killed by government troops. Agu evades capturing. After undergoing a brutal initiation process, Agu becomes a fully-fledged member of the militia.
Agu befriends another young NDF child soldier, Strika, who never speaks. One night, the commandant summons Agu to his quarters, and rapes him. Strika, another of the commandant's rape victims, comforts him. Preacher, an older soldier, gives Agu brown-brown to lift his mood. Agu and Strika take part in a number of bloody battles and ambushes. The battalion's success in the taking of several towns, killing hundreds of men, women and children, gains them a summons to the rebel HQ, where the commandant, accompanied by Agu, Strika, and a few other members of the battalion, go to meet with the NDF leader. They spend an entire night in the waiting area, infuriating the commandant.
When they finally meet the supreme commander, he informs the commandant that he is not being promoted, as he had expected, and is in fact being removed from command and that his lieutenant will be the new commander of the battalion. The commandant has the lieutenant killed that night and he takes his men and flees telling them it is time that they "line their own pockets and get theirs." As they wander through the jungles, Strika is mortally wounded from air strike missiles alongside others who lost their lives. Flash forward in time and Agu is at a new fort with the troops. The commandant's lieutenant will need gold to pay for supplies.
Ammunition runs out, leaving the group with no way to defend themselves from encroaching enemy forces. Agu informs the commandant of this, and he tells Agu that he must take care of him, as all sons must protect their fathers. As they speak, Preacher, now the new lieutenant, rallies the soldiers to abandon their posts and surrender to the UN, as they will surely starve or be killed if they stay. The commandant at first refuses to let them go, but relents when Agu says they should surrender. The soldiers all depart, leaving the raving commandant alone.
Shortly after, they are detained by UN troops. The younger members of the battalion are sent to a missionary school in a safe part of the country. Agu stays away from the other children, who play games and enjoy the comfort and safety of the school. Agu is tormented by what has happened, and has nightmares about it.The film was shown in the Special Presentation section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival,[8] and released on Netflix globally and in a limited release by Bleecker Street on October 16, 2015.
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