Beasts of No Nation2015
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Beasts of No Nation finds writer-director Cary Fukunaga working with a talented cast to offer a sobering, uncompromising, yet still somehow hopeful picture of war's human cost.
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Cast
as Commandant
as Agu
as Strika
as Father
as Mother
as Big Brother
as Old Witch Woman
as Dike
as Little Sister
as Pastor
as Amy
as Father Friday
as Griot
as NRC Corporal
as Chicken Legs
as Hope
as 2nd I-C
as NRC Sergeant
as Paramount Chief
as Village Constable
as Ecomod 2nd Lieutenant
as Angry Bush Taxi Driver
as Grandfather
as BBC Host
as BBC Correspondent
as Young Girl
as Village Man #1
as Village Man #2
as Village Man #3
as Village Man #4
as Bush Taxi Driver
as NRC Boy Soldier
as Bernard
as Tribal Boy
as Ebenezer
as Rambo
as Randy
as Justice
as Small Boy Unit Soldier #1
as Small Boy Unit Soldier #2
as Small Boy Unit Soldier #3
as Small Boy Unit Soldier #4
as Tripod
as Chief Intelligence Officer
as Preacher
as NDF Officer #1
as NDF Officer #2
as NDF Officer #3
as Chief Priest
as Initiator #1
as Initiator #2
as Mother
as Daughter
as Radio Operator
as Charcoal NDF Soldier
as Coastal NDF Soldier
as Deputy
as Supreme Commander Dada Goodblood
as Old T.A.R. Woman
as Madame
as Young Girl #1
as Young Girl #2
as Prostitute
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Critic Reviews for Beasts of No Nation
All Critics (146) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (134) | Rotten (12) | DVD (1)
It wants to immerse itself entirely in Agu's experience, yet the filmmaker can't resist standing aloft in scenes that underscore the soldiers' ages and their actions, and pointing out easy ironies.
Fukunaga gives the film a visual grandeur that makes it feel like it's taking place after the world has ended, and all that's left for Agu is this morass of endless, uncaring violence.
Fukunaga's hurtling camera and taut cutting keep Beasts of No Nation only just this side of hallucinatory, and Elba is the kind of titanic actor to kick it to a near-mythic level.
Under Fukunaga's expert guidance the camerawork nearly becomes a third character alongside the real find in the film, newcomer Abraham Attah as Agu.
It's a powerful tale of lost innocence, albeit sometimes heavy-handed in its depiction of the plight of African child soldiers.
Attah is an industrious little actor, but his fall from innocence is not delineated with the same force as the carnage.
Audience Reviews for Beasts of No Nation
Two results of watching this: 1) one discovers that the Third World does indeed carry humanity despite one's prejudices and not simply uncivilized savages and, 2) the idea that "war is hell" is only amplified when children are seen fighting it. Remarkable work here, eye-opening.
Super Reviewer
In an unknown place in the world, and after the loss of his family, young Agu runs off only to find a clan of young ones lead by a Commandant. As they teach him to hold his own in the war and kill, the raw human emotion begins to leap off the screen. This Netflix released picture really shows that they know how to find quality content for their streaming service, because at one point this film was being considered for Oscar buzz. Not only is this a powerful story, but Idris Elba really makes you believe this clan exists and the way he forces his kids to do things is brutally realistic. "Beasts of No Nation" does suffer from an extended running time and a slightly over calculated screenplay, which to me felt a little tame compared to it's subject matter. I felt as though the film explored more than it explained, which was a very odd thing to do in my opinion. In the end, this is a very solid film that can be hard to watch a times, but I would still highly recommend. Very well-executed picture!
Super Reviewer
A brutal, harrowing and devastating film that is beautifully directed, photographed (especially in two incredibly gut-wrenching scenes) and acted, with intense performances by Attah and Elba, about a boy's loss of innocence and childhood amid a horrible war in a nightmarish place.
Super Reviewer
Beasts of No Nation Quotes
| Commandant: | It has put the weapons of this war back in your hands of you, the young, the powerful |
| Commandant: | It has put the weapons of this war back in your hands of you, the young, the powerful. |
| Commandant: | I will always protect you because you are my son. And a son always protects his father. |
| Commandant: | What are you doing here? |