Beasts of No Nation review: Netflix goes to war with Idris Elba

True Detective's Cary Fukunaga swaps crime-riddled Louisiana for war-torn West Africa in the savagely intense Beasts of No Nation. It also happens to be the first ever movie production from Netflix, who'll premiere it online the same day it hits cinemas. Expect the streaming giant to categorise it as 'Harrowing War Movie' - this one will leave its mark whether seen on small screen or big.

Idris Elba is the marquee name on the poster, but it's 14-year-old newcomer Abraham Attah who's the heart and soul of the story. He plays Agu, a high-spirited kid whose life gets upended after a violent militant coup sweeps through his village. On the run, Agu is taken in by Elba's warlord (known simply as Commandant) and transformed into a child soldier to spill blood in a messy civil war.

Beasts is all about the emotional tug of war between Agu and Commandant, the forceful nature in which the latter tries to control and exploit the boy for his army of young mercenaries. Elba is able to turn from charismatic to sinister so quickly it's impossible to know where you stand with him; one moment he's calling Agu "son", the next he's urging him to embrace the violence that's commonplace in the world around him.

In one of the film's more horrific moments, writer-director Fukunaga has Commandant thrust a machete into Agu's hand and tell him to bring it down on the head of a petrified enemy as if he's chopping wood. The camera doesn't flinch - you almost certainly will.

As Agu is further indoctrinated into the rebel cause, the power and control he wields through violence comes at the expense of his humanity. Fukunaga underlines this in a sensational one-take sequence reminiscent of the one he pulled off in True Detective. Here, a bloody raid through a small town ends when Agu calmly puts a bullet in a woman's head to stop her being raped by a soldier. A mercy killing that hits home with a blunt, impactful thud.

In one of the film's more horrific moments, writer-director Fukunaga has Commandant thrust a machete into Agu's hand and tell him to bring it down on the head of a petrified enemy as if he's chopping wood.

Fukunaga never shies away from depicting bloodshed, but an over-reliance on voiceover (a first-person style lifted from Uzodinma Iweala's source novel) frequently deflates the horror unfolding and keeps you at a slight arm's length from the film's key players. It doesn't quite manage to stick the landing, stopping just short of an explosive showdown and leaving the film to gradually peter out.

Still, there is plenty to admire here, chiefly two magnetic performances from Elba and Attah that deserve awards recognition. Fukunaga's touches of visual flair also make this worth choosing the big screen over streaming. A sequence where the child soldiers, high on hallucinogens, witness trees and grass turn vivid pink is pure cinema.

Branding Beasts of No Nation as entertainment is tough because at times it's a difficult watch, but those with a strong stomach will be rewarded with a powerful film about the grim realities of war.

Director: Cary Fukunaga; Screenwriter: Cary Fukunaga; Starring: Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor; Running time: 136 mins; Certificate: 15

Simon Reynolds

Movies Editor 

Simon has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, writing on staff and freelance for Hearst, Dennis, Future and Autovia titles before joining Cision in 2022.