Beasts of No Nation (film)

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Movie
German title Beasts of No Nation
Original title Beasts of No Nation
Logo Beasts of No Nation.png
Country of production United States
original language English , Yoruba
Publishing year 2015
length 137 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Cary Joji Fukunaga
script Cary Joji Fukunaga
production Daniel Crown ,
Idris Elba ,
Cary Joji Fukunaga,
Amy Kaufman ,
Riva Marker ,
Daniela Taplin Lundberg
music Dan Romer
camera Cary Joji Fukunaga
cut Pete Beaudreau ,
Mikkel EG Nielsen
occupation

Beasts of No Nation is an American war - drama from director Cary Joji Fukunaga and is based on the eponymous book by Uzodinma Iweala . As the first film ever, it was released in several cinemas and on Netflix at the same time . In Germany, the film can only be seen on Netflix so far.

The film tells the story of the boy Agu, who gets caught between the front lines in a West African civil war country and is trained as a child soldier .

action

The boy Agu lives with his family in an unnamed West African village. He earns money with small rip-offs and trading with the soldiers of a UN peacekeeping mission , which is supposed to protect the village from the approaching civil war.

The apparent peace does not last long, however, because the village is attacked by approaching soldiers and ultimately conquered. Agu's mother manages to escape with his little sister in time, while he stays behind with his father and older brother. They try to hide from the soldiers, but are caught. A confused woman living in the village accuses her of being a collaborator with the rebels in revenge , whereupon the leader of the soldiers sentenced her to death. Only Agu can flee into the jungle before the execution.

Here he is picked up after some time by a unit of the rebels, which are members of the Native Defense Force (NDF). They first threatened him with death, but then took him into their ranks as a child soldier. He quickly loses his childlike innocence in the ranks of the rebels and is forced to grow up. For example, the leader of the rebel unit, just known as the “Commandant”, forces him to kill an unarmed man. This is the beginning of various brutal acts that he has to carry out in the course of his initiation rite with the rebels. Over time, the horrors of war dulled him. Looting, drug use, rape, murder and starvation will soon become commonplace. Patrols or UN vehicles are shown again and again, but they do not bother the rebels. In one scene the soldiers are on their way to commit a massacre of “collaborators” who are not supposed to leave anyone alive when a UN convoy comes towards them, from which they are only photographed. The soldiers then massacre the city undisturbed.

Agu befriends "Strika", another child soldier in the unit. Strika is regularly abused by the commandant. Later, Agu is raped by the commander too. Then both are accepted into his bodyguard.

Due to his success, the commander is finally called to Dada Goodblood, the commander in chief of the rebels. The latter had promised him promotion to general and the capture of the capital. On site, however, he is only offered a demotion for political reasons. He should also hand over command of his unit to his deputy. Dissatisfied with the situation, he abandons the rebels and wants to take possession of his own land with his unit.

Agu is now numb and has lost all sense of time. All he remembers is that before the war he was a happy child who was forced to grow up by events. He wants to stop the killing, but fears that the commandant will kill him for it.

Meanwhile, the commandant's plan doesn't work out. He wanted to finance the maintenance of his unit with gold, which, however, was not found despite intensive prospecting by his soldiers. Disaffected, starving and without ammunition, his soldiers finally abandoned him and surrendered to a UN patrol.

Agu is taken to a rehabilitation facility for child soldiers with the other children in his unit. Here he is slowly recovering, but does not want to talk about his actions. All he says is that before the war he was a happy child from a happy family that loved him. Some child soldiers leave the facility to fight again, but Agu stays and joins the other children at the facility swimming in the ocean in the final scene of the film.

production

Filming began in Ghana on June 5, 2014 after Cary Joji Fukunaga had worked on the script for over seven years. The main locations were primarily the Eastern Region in Ghana .

Netflix was able to secure the international distribution rights for around twelve million US dollars. The release took place simultaneously on October 16, 2015 on Netflix and in some cinemas. Since the 90-day evaluation window traditionally reserved for cinemas was no longer available, the cinema release of the film was boycotted by the four largest American cinema chains .

reception

criticism

The film was received extremely positively in the reviews. Above all, the acting performances of Elba and Attah were highlighted. At Metacritic , the film received a Metascore of 79/100 based on 30 reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes 90 percent of 104 reviews were positive.

Awards and nominations

At the Venice International Film Festival 2015 , the film was in competition for the Golden Lion . Abraham Attah was awarded the Marcello Mastroianni Prize for his acting performance . The film also received the CITC - UNESCO 2015 Award . At the Independent Spirit Awards 2016, the film was nominated in five categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Leading and Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography. Idris Elba won a Golden Globe nomination and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Felix Stephan Der Schauwert des Krieg on www.zeit.de from October 16, 2015, accessed on December 8, 2015
  2. ↑ Mike Fleming Jr Idris Elba To Star In Cary Fukunaga-Helmed "Beasts Of No Nation" on www.deadline.com from August 20, 2013, accessed on December 8, 2015
  3. ↑ Radio Times Staff Idris Elba to shoot Beasts of No Nation in Ghana at www.radiotimes.com on May 27, 2014, accessed on December 8, 2015
  4. ↑ Dave McNary Netflix Makes Another Bigscreen Splash With "Beasts of No Nation" on www.variety.com on March 2, 2015, Accessed December 8, 2015
  5. ↑ Netflix's Beasts of No Nation boycotted by big four US cinema chains at theguardian.com, accessed December 8, 2015
  6. ↑ Reviews of "Beasts of No Nation" at www.metacritic.com, Retrieved December 8, 2015
  7. ↑ Reviews of "Beasts of No Nation" at www.rottentomatoes.com, Retrieved December 8, 2015
  8. ^ Award list of the Venice Film Festival 2015 ( Memento from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on www.labiennale.org from September 12, 2015, accessed on December 8, 2015