Beasts of No Nation (2015) [The Criterion Collection]

Director:

The nightmare of war is seen through the eyes of one of its most tragic casualties – 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.



New audio commentary featuring Fukunaga and first assistant director Jon Mallard

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