With all the success of TV series on on-demand streaming services, we now have our first ever Netflix original feature film.
It is also the first ever American film to be filmed in Ghana, which is certainly quite an achievement.
Directed by Cary Fukunaga who has lately found fame in television, decided to venture out into the African jungle for something quite daring. With stories coming out of filming that reminded me of the incidents during the filming of Apocalypse Now, this definitely sounded like a project that could emulate the success of the 1979 hit.
After a pleasant start, everything suddenly turns into into quite a brutal watch and we witness one of the biggest character transformations from an unknown child actor for some time.
As we go into the second half, it reminded of The Thin Red Line, Platoon or Apocalypse Now in terms of working out that there will never be peace and that you can never find solace after war. That is a successful plot that the director and his team pulls off nicely.
After seeing all the brutality, it was easy to forget the sweet first ten minutes of our main character leading a normal life for an African child and playing with this friends.
I can definitely see this film get some Oscar recognition, especially in the performances and directing.
Despite having no acting experience, Abraham Attah manages to be the most unexpected star since Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips. He really disappears into his role and we feel totally immersed. He is quite a discovery and it deserves to be publicized around the world.
The only actor that is in it that we will know is Idris Elba as it seems the director hired locals that have either no or little acting experience. As for Elba, as soon as you see him, you know he means business.
It is what many would call a 'tour de force'. I think for many people, they will be going into this film hoping for Elba to make them care for this film. With Attah showing his qualities, Elba does manage to give us another memorable character that is well developed to its fullest extent. Thankfully, Elba plays the supporting role well and does enough to not steal the limelight from Attah and the many other child actors.
With all these strong positives, director Cary Fukunaga manages to eclipse both of them. Filling for an injured cameraman, colleagues catching malaria, constantly rewriting the script and dealing with various actors dropping out due to dangerous conditions, Fukunaga soldiered on to make his latest project came into fruition.
When battling against the elements, Fukunaga's cinematography is pretty good. It certainly captures the atmosphere and made you look in awe of the African landscape.
Despite the tone of it being quite miserable, brutal and not holding back, it's character development makes you care for the events that are happening on screen.
The raw feel this movie has makes this such captivating viewing. The acting by the locals is quite impressive and really puts you into that struggling part of the world.
I can see some people forgetting who was who. But for me, I found it easy to separate the minor characters. Also the accents might need to take a while for you to adjust your ears too.
But if you like films such as Apocalypse Now, City Of God, Hotel Rwanda and Platoon, then you will get the most enjoyment out of it. When I was thinking of other war films that have been released between 2000 and now, I was really struggling to think of a film that was superior to this.
It was a shame that there was no cinema nearby showing this as this would look great on the big screen. But for it being a first for Netflix makes this a new experience that needs to be seen, not just for its landmark that has been stamped within the development of film, but for possibly being the best film of the year.
Rating: 8/10
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