I don't like the pedophilia aspect.

I would say it's a way to directly and irrefutably show that he uses these children for his benefit.

I would hardly say he is honest and straightforward. He manipulates the boys with drugs and mentions something along the lines of magic (juju) to prevent them from being hurt. He's completely full of it. He cares about his objective because it benefits his position to be promoted. That's why he flips out when he's demoted. If I remember it alludes to him killing his own man who was given his position.

None of this diminishes his character. It adds layers. That's what makes his speeches so startling. He's so charismatic and inspirational, yet it's in direct contrast with his actions.

He definitely is not a good man. Brainwashing children to commit evil acts is never ok. Also, oftentimes young children recruited by these evil men are victimized sexually.

Child sexual abuse is horrendous in general. But it's also a reality in the world, irrespective of one's comfort level.

*****SPOILERS*****


I agree
I was very much on Commandants side for much of this film...Its a terrible thing to use torture, execution and child soldiers in a ragtag Civil War, i get it and frankly, The Commandant was NOT the nicest guy...but i understood him and his methods
He seemed a stalwart leader and created a family of sorts out of his boys
He gave those orphans purpose in a land without laws and was fighting a horrible government that was trying to exterminate them
He made little boys his gunmen...ok, thats bad, but he seemed to really believe in his cause and was a fearsome and able leader

The particular scene you mention was beyond awful...it was really out of left field and left me with disgust for the remainder of the film
Idris Elba was of course amazing...i just dont know that i would have included that child stuff if i were the writer...i really dont know ANYONE that acts this way towards children or women
I would have cut that scene as i did not believe it of the character

That's the burden of being talented at something: you channel all your positive energies into your work/art and thus your everyday life becomes problematic and ugly. I wish I could elaborate but gotta hurry listen to Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits.

I've not seen this film but I have read accounts by survivors and rape of children and women is another part of the routine horror of it all. It's part of the process of turning young, some times very young, people in to mindless killers and terrorising the population.

When I was reading about the civil wars in Sierre Leone and Liberia in the papers back when this was taking place, the articles and journalistic accounts often mentioned many instances of child sex, rape and trafficking in addition to forced child inscription. I think the pedaphilian scene was included to depict a more realistic expose of these wars in the movie.