#1091: FUKUNAGA, Cary Joji: Beasts of no Nation (2015)
FUKUNAGA, Cary Joji (United States)
Commentary
Featuring Fukunaga and first assistant director Jon Mallard.
Documentary
On the development and making of the film, featuring interviews with Fukunaga; author Iweala; actors Elba and Attah; and producers Amy Kaufman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, and Riva Marker.
Conversation
Between Fukunaga and film and television producer and cultural commentator Franklin Leonard.
Interview
With costume designer Jenny Eagan.
Trailer
Beasts of no Nation [2015]
Spine #1091
Blu-ray
Blu-ray
The nightmare of war is seen through the eyes of one of its most tragic casualities -- a child soldier -- in this harrowing vision of innocence lost from Cary Joji Fukunaga. Based on the acclaimed novel by Uzodinma Iweala, Beasts of No Nation unfolds in an unnamed, civil-war-torn West African country, where the young Agu (Abraham Attah, in a haunting debut performance) witnesses carnage in his village before falling captive to a band of rebel soldiers led by a ruthless commander (an explosive Idris Elba), who molds the boy into a hardened killer. Fukunaga's relentlessly roving camera work and stunning visuals -- realism so intensely visceral it borders on the surreal -- immerse the viewer in a world of unimaginable horror without ever losing sight of the powerful human story at its center.
136 minutes
Color
Color
5.1 Surround
2:39:1 aspect ratio
2:39:1 aspect ratio
Absolutely nothin'
An intense experience, Beasts is a fearfully good film.
The two leads — Abraham Attah (Agu) and Idris Elba (Commandant) carry the film from start to finish. The arc of their characters is so beautifully and fully detailed that the viewer is swept into their stories, left with an ambiguous feeling about the horrors they have experienced.
Fukunaga doesn't try to minimize those horrors — they are vivid and unforgettable.
But so too is the final image of the boy, healing his scars in the frothy ocean waters.
**
Fukunaga ran out of money and had to skillfully improvise the ending.
The Extras
The Booklet
Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film critic Robert Daniels.
The Booklet
Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film critic Robert Daniels.
"A rounded square frame captures children playing soccer on a lush field. The camera pulls back, revealing the shell of a television set. Two Black kids observe the scrimmage, like scouts on the pitch, leaning on the disused unit. Slightly taller than the pipsqueak other, the shrewd, sincere boy on the right evaluates the participants. In voice-over, he explains, simply, 'Our country is at war.' But war has not collapsed the sunny, Elysian immediate surroundings of these two preadolescent onlookers — yet."
Commentary
Featuring Fukunaga and first assistant director Jon Mallard.
Documentary
On the development and making of the film, featuring interviews with Fukunaga; author Iweala; actors Elba and Attah; and producers Amy Kaufman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, and Riva Marker.
Conversation
Between Fukunaga and film and television producer and cultural commentator Franklin Leonard.
Interview
With costume designer Jenny Eagan.
Trailer
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