Netflix first movie Beasts of No Nation - close but no cigar
Last night, Netflix premiered its first feature film with Idris Elba taking a secondary role in a story about an African child soldier. However, impeccable acting, sumptuous direction and a hard-hitting story line failed to hit the mark.
It's really difficult to know what makes a great movie or actor or art or book. There's no doubt Beasts of No Nation ticks all the boxes. Idris Elba is convincing as a general robbed of morality by war and propaganda in a brave role for an actor of his caliber. The lead actor Abraham Attah who played an orphaned child who found himself in a rebel army did brilliantly to go from son of a good family to murderer to a lost child full of repent.
The topic is deep and harrowing. It's a genre of movie I've become battle hardened to, so perhaps this is why I didn't find it as shocking as it wanted to be. What it did do brilliantly was show the perpetual nature of war and conflict. It illustrated that you can't simply brand someone as good or bad.
In a moral journey of having his family flee, Agu's world went from idyllic with a threat of danger to being an intrinsic part of the misery. These lost, baffled and frightened children swept up in drugs, shooting, sex and looting were left as beasts who did the most appalling things of no nation, as they were destined for a life in jail or pariahs as war criminals who have their own demons to wrestle.
This is a good film. I highly recommend you watch it. Will you like it, yes. Will it win awards, maybe. Will it be ranked as a great film, no. Maybe because of its predictability, maybe because its not evocative enough - but in all honesty, I don't really know.
It's really difficult to know what makes a great movie or actor or art or book. There's no doubt Beasts of No Nation ticks all the boxes. Idris Elba is convincing as a general robbed of morality by war and propaganda in a brave role for an actor of his caliber. The lead actor Abraham Attah who played an orphaned child who found himself in a rebel army did brilliantly to go from son of a good family to murderer to a lost child full of repent.
The topic is deep and harrowing. It's a genre of movie I've become battle hardened to, so perhaps this is why I didn't find it as shocking as it wanted to be. What it did do brilliantly was show the perpetual nature of war and conflict. It illustrated that you can't simply brand someone as good or bad.
In a moral journey of having his family flee, Agu's world went from idyllic with a threat of danger to being an intrinsic part of the misery. These lost, baffled and frightened children swept up in drugs, shooting, sex and looting were left as beasts who did the most appalling things of no nation, as they were destined for a life in jail or pariahs as war criminals who have their own demons to wrestle.
This is a good film. I highly recommend you watch it. Will you like it, yes. Will it win awards, maybe. Will it be ranked as a great film, no. Maybe because of its predictability, maybe because its not evocative enough - but in all honesty, I don't really know.
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