Journal 6 Shaylee 


             Beasts of no nation is a movie made by Carey Fukunaga. It is about a kid named Agu, and there is a war going on where he lives. While running from the war, he loses his friends and family. Throughout the movie, he continues to search for his family and friends and tries as hard as he can to live.

            The film has multiple values in it. One of them is God. There are multiple times throughout the movie that Agu looks at the sky and talks to God, “God did you see what we just did?”. He also said “Mother I can only talk to you right now because God is not listening”. Another value is attacking and brutality. There are multiple times when they kill someone and it is graphic. At one point in the movie, Agu had to look at some guy and kill him. He looked at him in the face and used a big machete and sliced the guys head in half. After he did that, he stabbed him multiple times with it.

            There are two main themes in this movie. One of them is God. Agu and his dad both talk to him a lot. They pray and talk to him. The other theme is family. Throughout the movie, Agu and his friends keep moving to hopefully see their families again. When Agu is talking about his mom he says “Your song is making my body move” because he is alone and tired to move on but does.

            This movie adds a lot of experience to A Long Way Gone. It gives us something to actually picture and watch, instead of having to imagine it. It shows how people look and how their surroundings look. It makes us keep in mind how young the kid soldiers are too.

            This movie educates by showing how things are in their perspectives. When we watch the movie we tend to put ourselves in their shoes. We would see a situation and see what we would do if we were them. It also educates by showing how graphic some of the things were. Like how dirty they were, the conditions they were living in, and what they did to stay alive.

            The characters and plot points that were most effective is Strika, Daba the Commandant, and Agu killing a man. Strika was Agu’s bestfriend. Agu and Strika met through fighting in the war together. Strika helped Agu push through fighting together. They gave eachother strength and support to keep going. The other really effective person is Daba the Commandant. Daba tells Agu to kill the people who killed his father. He kind of brainwashes the kids to kill the people who killed their families. The plot point that was most effective is when Abu kills the man by stabbing him in the head. When he kills him he becomes ruthless, and heartless. He becomes a killing machine after he does that.

            The weaknesses or things that could be improved in the movie are few. The only thing I really didn’t like was the ending. We don’t know if he ever finds any of his family. Or what happens years after the war is over. What does he do, or where does he live? They should’ve done something that flash forwarded him to years after so we could see what he did.

            The dialogue reveals Abu’s character and personality because it shows what he values. He talks to God and his mom a lot. You can tell he misses his mom and he wants to find her. He prays and talks to God so he can live and find his family.

            The quality of acting and performances were great. The characters in the movie showed great emotion and they were so into what they were doing. Their emotions matched what was going on in the movie, which is what most movies have problems with.

            I would refer this to anyone who likes to watch movies. I wouldn’t refer this movie to kids at all. Probably young adults and adults who don’t care for gory things. I think people should watch this movie if they are learning about kid soldiers and how living could be in different countries.