Beasts of No Nation (2015)

There is a tremendous sense of clarity and confidence built into Cary Fukunaga’s “Beasts of No Nation.” He has shown these qualities on each of his previous projects, which include the first season of Nic Pizzolatto’s “True Detective” on HBO, which he directed, and in his adaptation — and, I think, the finest adaptation yet — of Charlotte Bronte’s gothic novel, “Jane Eyre,” which he wrote and directed.

Here, with “Beasts of No Nation,” Fukunaga directs and once again adapts his screenplay from a novel by Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala. The film follows Agu (Abraham Attah), a young boy whose family is torn apart in a civil war taking place in an African country that is never given a name.

Following the massacre of his village, Agu is found wandering in the deep African jungle and recruited as a child soldier by the rebel Native Defense Force led by a man they call Commandant (Idris Elba). Commandant is a tall, shrewd man, intimidating and manipulative, able to play on the fear, confusion and unchecked fury of the children he recruits.

Agu is no different, and is forced to commit unspeakable, gruesome acts, partially as ritual and initiation, partially as sport, partially as supposed acts of political insurgence. He also is abused by the Commandant, and through the abuse acted upon him and the acts of violence Agu is made to enact on others, we witness a nerve-wracking and at times challenging-to-watch spiral into the darkest depths of humankind.

Perhaps the most interesting observation I can make about this extraordinary film is how poetically the story is told. Fukunaga served as cinematographer on this film, as well as writer and director, and his visual style and fluid approach to storytelling calls to mind the transcendental work of filmmakers David Gordon Green (“George Washington,” “Joe”), Jeff Nichols (“Take Shelter,” “Mud”), and Terrence Malick (“The Thin Red Line,” “The New World”).

Fukunaga also has a way of taking more “showy” shots and blending them into the story without distracting us from it. There is one particularly amazing sequence that shows the fractured passing of time, and is communicates both Agu’s moral deterioration, and his lost perception of time and place, as the violence becomes such a frequent part of his everyday life that it actually begins to lose its impact on him.

There is another extended sequence, more chilling and technically impressive than perhaps any other in the film, where we see the storming of a building by the rebel army. This shot rivals even Fukunaga’s harrowing 6-minute-long take in “True Detective,” and builds to a blood curdling climax where we witness a brief resurgence in Agu’s humanity, even as it is juxtaposed with more violent behavior.

“Beasts of No Nation” is an incredible achievement on both a technical level and on a narrative level. For the latter, we can also thank the stripped-down, powerful performances. Most notable among these are those of Attah and Elba, who carry us through this labyrinth of horrors with grace and stark sincerity. Attah, who makes his acting debut here, is capable of communicating so much with a subtle change of expression, and gradually shows with this performance that his skill ranges on a spectrum far beyond his years.

I mentioned earlier that the setting of the film is an unnamed African country. This is an important detail, as the anonymity of where we are actually works to enhance the urgency of the story as not a preachy, political sermon, but as a more raw, more direct journey into a boy’s loss of innocence as he is abandoned, and then found again in a war-torn land. This is a human story, and who better than Fukunaga to guide us through the dark and find humanity among the shadows.

With a powerful, ethereal score by Dan Romer, graceful writing, direction and cinematography by Fukunaga, and restrained, sincere performances all around, “Beasts of No Nation” is one of the best films of 2015 and Fukunaga’s finest work yet.

★★★★ (out of 4)