Beasts of No Nation 2015

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Simply a bloody revel in the hideous. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: The unsentimental education of an African child soldier is captured with savage beauty and matter-of-fact horror in "Beasts of No Nation," a tough-minded, tough-viewing chronicle of a civil war as seen through the eyes of one of its youngest casualties. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: One could claim that the film is meant to present a perspective desensitized to violence-but then what is the movie sensitive to, aside from tastefully composing widescreen in thirds? Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Your job is just to watch it, as hard and necessary as that may be. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Idris Elba gives an intense performance as the boy's commanding officer and eventual father figure; his character comes across as monstrous at first but seems increasingly vulnerable as the story develops. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Beasts of No Nation" is an act of gripping empathy. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Attah is an industrious little actor, but his fall from innocence is not delineated with the same force as the carnage. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Director/writer Cary Joji Fukunaga hasn't made a film that's quite as revolutionary as either its distribution model or casting. But it's still an involving and searing tale of a boy surviving the horrors of being a child soldier. Read more

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: It's a credit to Fukunaga as a filmmaker-and his outstanding cast, nearly all of them first-timers aside from Elba-that Beasts is both audaciously styled and heartbreakingly human in scale. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Grim, grueling and gripping. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: We march through pillage and rape, and the Commandant tightens his power through abuse of his youthful charges; meanwhile, the film itself, supped full of horrors, begins to sicken and dwindle. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's not only a moving film but, far rarer, an important one, calling our attention to one war that never ends: The war on innocence. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: An effective nightmare, and a solid piece of filmmaking, strong enough to make you wish that it could have borne the full weight of the tragedy it set out to depict. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The country goes unnamed, the warring factions aren't always clear, but the nightmarish exploitation of children is made specific in the most vivid, visceral ways. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Idris Elba gives a powerhouse performance as the warlord of a rebel African army that trains children as soldiers. The Oscar for Best Supporting Actor should have his name on it. Read more

Matthew Lickona, San Diego Reader: A consuming, harrowing adventure story that holds onto hope in spite of horror. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: It poses some big questions and does so in a way that's most compelling. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It is, at times, not the easiest film to watch, but it's artfully made and will leave audiences feeling as if their world has expanded. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Although it's hard not to flinch every time a bullet fires, these are not shock tactics, but frightening parts of a compassionate, well-crafted film. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The ugly world portrayed here isn't for all appetites, but it is depicted with a gripping authenticity. Read more

David Sims, The Atlantic: Beasts tells a broadly traumatic story and tells it well, but lacks the kinds of specifics that could make it a truly memorable film. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Never soft-pedals its bleakness, but it also manages to allow audiences to leave with some shred of hope for Agu and his future. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: A humane and uncompromising portrait of one boy's experience as a child soldier in an unnamed African country. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Fukunaga's hurtling camera and taut cutting keep Beasts of No Nation only just this side of hallucinatory, and Elba is the kind of titanic actor to kick it to a near-mythic level. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Crippling despair and the most fragile tendrils of hope battle for the human psyche in "Beasts of No Nation," writer- director Cary Joji Fukunaga's grim, beautiful and achingly sad portrait of man's inhumanity to man. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This is a harrowing film to watch. In spite of the vibrant jungle greens and the searing sun, it's as bleak a vision of modern warfare as has ever been put on screen. Read more