Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Overrated and overhyped

Just perfect...

A Masterpiece!

I do not think that there is anything new to add to the reviews that are already here. This film is brutally honest and so it is not an easy watch. Lets say it is not "Imagination TV" it is as real as the war in some parts of Africa is. The depiction is so true to real life that you will either dislike the film from the very beginning or you will be glued to the story of Agu. Like many who have seen this film, I too am surprised that the Oscars snubbed this gem of a film.

I just finished watching the film and that was probably one of the most basic and mediocre story line plots I've ever seen in a film. You can literally sum up the whole 2 hour film in 20 seconds: Agu's Family are killed by the government troops, the rebels take Agu in, Agu feels uncomfortable with being a part of the rebels, Agu feels like he is part of rebels, Agu soon realizes killing people is wrong, Agu is rescued and put into a care home. The End.Everyone just pretends that they really enjoyed this film because it is based on true events and is "meaningful". That film wasn't meaningful one bit, it didn't show the truth of what child soldiers. And why does everyone praise Idris Elba so much for his performance? There's a ton of people out there who can put on an African accent, pick up a gun and look intimidating. Really people Idris Elba's performance is nothing to get crazy about.And let's not forget the fact that this film was a box office failure making only $90,000. Seriously, how can a film receiving this much praise make less than $100,000? Even some of the worst reviewed films out there such as The Emoji Movie have made more money than Beasts Of No Nation.Beasts Of No Nation will never be any better than any other film based on civil war in Africa such as Blood Diamond and Hotel Rwanda with well thoughtout out plots.

The movie starts out following a typical middle-class family living in a small village in what appears to be West Africa. The movie then expands the context and shows us that the town is in the middle of a battle between the corrupt and violent United Nations backed government forces and the ragged pack of rebel fighters. As the peaceful townspeople decide to ship away women and children to allow the men to stay back and fight, there is no room for some of the younger boys, so they are also to stay behind. Agu, the film's protagonist, ends up witnessing the United Nations backed government forces senselessly execute all of his family members that remained in the village. Fortunately, Agu is able to flee these mentally disturbed, deranged, blood-thirsty, war mongering United Nations backed government forces as he runs deep into the bush.Now orphaned, Agu is on his own in the wild. It appears that he will have no chance of survival, as he can not even light himself a fire and is not sure of what he can eat. Fortunately, the story's hero, known as the "Commandant" (played by Idris Elba), has managed to save many other UN backed government created orphans. Commandant's crew of orphaned boys stumbles upon helpless little Agu. Much of the movie is related to how Commandant takes little Agu under his wing, teaches him survival, feeds him, clothes him, and allows him to exact his revenge on the evil UN backed government forces. Commandant is shown to be leading a pack of what appears to be 20 to 30 other boys and young adults, all presumably orphaned similarly to Agu and all with a thirst for revenge on those that murdered their families. Throughout the film, Commandant is first shown as a heroic warrior, then a wise leader, and then devolves into an ordinary human being. Although he is a true leader, he also answers to an authority. When he finds out that his authority cares more about political aspirations than providing justice, he tries to oust Commandant from his post. Commandant then goes rogue and takes his orphaned boy tribe with him. It is somewhat similar to Colonel Kurtz's situation in "Apocalypse Now", with the exception that Commandant does not really have a clue on how to lead a group of rogue dissidents.Ultimately, his orphans desert him due to lack of food, water, and hope. Commandant's demise can be attributed to the corrupt nature of war and the western world's political influences. Deep down, he was shown to be a genuinely good man, fighting for justice, all while being a protector and guardian of many orphaned children.Many will see this movie from a different perspective. One of the themes of the movie, which is something that plays out every day in real life, is that the subtle authoritarian rule of western governments is both the cause and solution to many of life's problems. First, they were directly responsible for the bloody and senseless murder of the families of many of these children. Secondly, as we see toward the end of the movie, these children are placed in a government-run school to learn and survive. Government creates the problems and then attempts to fix them. However, they did achieve their main goal. The villages they needed to eradicate are now gone, with all remaining residents under the guardianship of the state.This movie is a great example of how innocent lives are taken, families are destroyed, and entire communities are eliminated due to the military involvement of western societies. There is no doubt that this story is being played out for real in the Middle East and all over Africa due to both the United States' and many European countries' perpetual foreign intervention campaigns.

Beasts of No Nation is a Netflix original movie about Child slavery and its role during an African civil war. It is not known in which African country this movie takes place in but the idea was to show that situations like this movie happen in virtually every African country. The film takes us through the life of an African village boy named Agu (Abraham Attah). He is just a normal African boy in a buffer zone at first. What seem to be African rebels come through the village and start to kill anything that moves. Agu witnesses his father and big brother get assassinated by these rebels but he manages to escape. He then gets captured by the rebel group that he would end up joining. The Commandant brings Agu under his wing along with the other ruthless savages and he slowly becomes a rebel, like the ones that killed Agu's brother and father. Agu basically gets brainwashed into something he hated aka African Rebels. Overall, this movie does a fantastic job showing how child slavery really can effect a Civil War. It does a great job showing the psychological brainwash of making a child soldier as well. Abraham Attah aka the actor that plays Agu did an exceptional job as his role as the little African boy. Personally one of the best child actor performances I have ever seen. The film itself surprised me. I thought this movie was gonna be maybe a little boring but, it was the opposite. I really enjoyed it. The picture was phenomenal. The acting was pretty good as well, headlined by Abraham Attah's portrayal of the fictional Agu. If i had to rate this movie I would give it 8 or 8 and a half stars out of 10.