Beasts of No Nation (2015)
94%RT Audience Score: 92%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award
31 wins & 57 nominations total
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.
Beasts of No Nation is a movie that will leave you feeling like you’ve been through a war yourself. The film follows the story of Agu, a child soldier, and his journey through the horrors of war. The cinematography is stunning, and the acting is top-notch, especially from Idris Elba. However, be warned, this movie is not for the faint of heart. It’s a gut-wrenching, emotional rollercoaster that will leave you feeling drained but also grateful for the life you have. So, grab some tissues and buckle up for a wild ride.
Production Company(ies)
Red Crown Productions, The Princess Grace Foundation Participant
Distributor
Bleecker Street Media, Netflix
Release Type
Streaming, Streaming (Netflix), Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Ghana
MPAA / Certificate
TV-MA
Year of Release
2015
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:2h 16m
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Language(s):English, Akan
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 16, 2015 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 6, 2017
Genre(s)
War/Drama
Keyword(s)
War, Drama, Africa, Civil War, Guerrilla Soldiers, Orphan, Warlord, Child Soldier, Human Cost, Sobering, Uncompromising, Hopeful, Cary Fukunaga, Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Amy Kaufman, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker, Daniel Crown, Written by Cary Fukunaga, Produced by Cary Fukunaga, MPAA Rating, Box Office Performance, Budget, Reviewed by Jason Bailey, Alison Willmore, David Edelstein, Leonard Maltin, Geoffrey Macnab, Peter Rainer, David Harris, Brian Eggert, Kevin Wight, Rob Aldam, Matt Brunson, Starring Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Opeyemi Fagbohungbe, Kurt Egyiawan, Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Screenplay by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Bleecker Street Media, Netflix
Worldwide gross: $90,777
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $113,314
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 3,017
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 12,357
US/Canada gross: $90,777
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $113,314
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,648
US/Canada opening weekend: $51,003
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $63,665
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,120
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $6,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $7,489,610
Production budget ranking: 1,791
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $4,033,155
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$11,409,451
ROI to date (est.): -99%
ROI ranking: 2,020
Abraham Attah – Agu
Opeyemi Fagbohungbe – Sergeant Gaz
Kurt Egyiawan – 2nd I-C
Cary Joji Fukunaga – Director, Screenwriter
Amy Kaufman – Producer
Daniela Taplin Lundberg – Producer
Riva Marker – Producer
Daniel Crown – Producer
Idris Elba – Producer
Director(s)
Cary Joji Fukunaga
Writer(s)
Cary Joji Fukunaga
Producer(s)
Amy Kaufman, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker, Daniel Crown, Idris Elba
Film Festivals
Venice, Telluride, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award
31 wins & 57 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (148) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (135) | Rotten (13)
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.
May 3, 2016
Jason Bailey
Flavorwire
TOP CRITIC
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.
November 10, 2015
Alison Willmore
BuzzFeed News
TOP CRITIC
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.
October 16, 2015
David Edelstein
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
Under Fukunaga’s expert guidance the camerawork nearly becomes a third character alongside the real find in the film, newcomer Abraham Attah as Agu.
October 16, 2015
Leonard Maltin
leonardmaltin.com
TOP CRITIC
It’s a powerful tale of lost innocence, albeit sometimes heavy-handed in its depiction of the plight of African child soldiers.
October 16, 2015 | Rating: 3/5
Geoffrey Macnab
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Attah is an industrious little actor, but his fall from innocence is not delineated with the same force as the carnage.
October 16, 2015 | Rating: B-
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor
TOP CRITIC
As a psychological study of the effects of war and atrocity on a young mind, Fukunaga’s film feels more like a ride than a true examination of the horrors of war, exhausting the viewer for the wrong reasons.
May 31, 2022
David Harris
Spectrum Culture
It might be Elba’s best performance outside of “Luther.”
May 12, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
An urgent, brutal, and harrowing vision of war through the eyes of a child, made by a filmmaker of rare vision and talent.
September 28, 2021 | Rating: 4
Kevin Wight
The Wee Review
A powerful and emotive war drama which highlights the plight of child soldiers and the evil of those who exploit them.
September 23, 2021
Rob Aldam
Backseat Mafia
This looks at one of the many ways in which innocent children are caught in the web of war — in this case, it’s those unfortunate boys who are captured and trained to become child soldiers.
September 17, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
A harrowing experience.
March 4, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Richard Crouse
Richard Crouse…
Plot
Follows the journey of a young boy, Agu, who is forced to join a group of soldiers in a fictional West African country. While Agu fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination Depicts the mechanics of war and does not shy away from explicit, visceral detail, and paints a complex, difficult picture of Agu as a child soldier.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Idris Elba’s performance as the warlord Commandant is considered one of his best outside of his role in Luther.
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