I'm a big fan of Cary Fukunaga's work, but BONN just didn't hit home emotionally. I also found Elba's performance less layered and believable than seemingly every other critic. I have my own thoughts (plus a doodle!) on the film below, but did anyone else feel the same way? Also, has anyone caught the far superior Come and See?
http://sketchy-reviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/new-release-review-beasts-of-no-nation.html
I'm glad someone else made the connection. To be fair, expecting anything to reach the level of Come and See is a tall task. I think CaS was a more powerful film, but that takes nothing away from BoNN. Both are some of the most harrowing antiwar films ever made. The common factor is that both are told from the point of view of a child. Both kids witness horrors of war and are forced to grow up, seemingly instantly. BoNN had more of a bittersweet ending, while CaS was more tragic. Agu lost his innocence, while Florya lost his sanity in the process as well, but never his humanity.
I literally felt physically sick after watching Come and See. That feeling stayed with me for a couple of days.
That's a well written review you have there, I just don't agree with it.
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I wouldn't say I went into BoNN expecting it to reach the heights of CaS - in fact I hadn't thought of it in a couple of years - it was just the film I kept coming back to in the hours after the film, due to the similarities you site. Whilst watching BoNN I mostly found myself thinking of The Thin Red Line, due to the lush rolling green landscape; plus the ocean scene was also very reminiscent of TTRL.
Glad you like reading the review, even if you didn't agree with it.
That's another good comparison. The similarities don't end with the cinematography and the jungle settings. Agu's voice over reminded me of TTRL as well, especially when he's addressing God and his mother.
Interestingly enough, Comes and See and The Thin Red Line are my 2 very favorite war films.
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I think the kid actor is what made the movie hit home, his performance was layered and complex, his acting felt real and his final speech at the end kind of sums up everything in the film beautifully.
Yeah I found the whole movie emotional, the music score and photography was really powerful throughout and I liked the hypnotic narrative approach he takes over a traditional one.
I don't think it's a masterpiece, but I do think it's a great film and one of the best modern war films, reminded me a lot of early Herzog films.
Absolutely agree about the actor who played Agu. How someone can be so natural in front of the camera utterly baffles me.
Didn't get a Herzog vibe myself, he's much more nihilist I think. Fukunaga seems to believe humanity has at least some hope (even in True Detective).
I was speaking more in his visual choices and use of narration and dialogue, his content was certainly more thematically humanist compared to Herzog's work, but the rawness of the film and location shooting reminded me of Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo.
Though Terrence Malick is probably a better comparison, but I don't think Fukunaga is nearly as preachy with his stuff.
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After the second season and this movie, I'm starting to believe he had a lot more input into True Detective than any of us originally thought, I wouldn't even be surprised if he changed a lot of major stuff.
Also it's a project he attached himself to, so if he liked the humanism in that script and wrote another script like that, it shows he likes to work on projects that find hope for humanity.
So either way it works, David Fincher hasn't written any of his scripts and yet a lot of his films connect thematically.
That was pretty much my thinking, Randy. Since Fukunaga directed all eight episodes of the first season I'd say it would have to have been a very collaborative process between him and Nic Pizzolato. He wasn't just a director for hire for one episode, he shepherded the whole thing from beginning to end. Looking at his other work it's clear that he had a big influence on the visuals. Also, it can't have hurt that Fukunaga is a writer in his own right.
shareHe created the overall tone and feel of the series, the 2nd season was a bunch of directors trying to copy his style and put it in L.A., but it didn't have the level of detail and craft that Fukunaga brought.
He basically directed an 8 hour feature film and worked with two of the best actors in the business and had an HBO budget, to me I'd say he had as much impact on the show as David Fincher did on Se7en.
I haven't seen Come and See, but I also thought of The Thin Red Line while watching this due to the narration, and cinematography. There was a line of narration about killing a man, which was very similar to a line in TTRL.
Yeah, some of it is no doubt just happenstance, but various images do seem to call back to it quite vividly. As far as the central theme is concerned I'd say Come and See is the real touchstone.
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