How Beasts of No Nation Made Envious of a Child Soldier

Disclaimer and Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen Beasts of No Nation you should watch it soon. Unlike most of the films I discuss this one is actually quite good. Apologies for any spoilers.

The film follows the path of a young boy in West Africa caught up in a violent civil war. We see his transition from innocent child to savage child soldier.

We see his mother and younger sister fleeing the city before the impending rebel invasion. We see his grandfather, father, and older brother executed by government troops for being perceived to be rebels. We see his capture and initiation into the rebel army, including his first murder when he is ordered to hack away at a prisoner’s skull with a machete. We see his rape by his commanding officer, and his subsequent addiction to drugs. Finally, we see his capture by U.N. troops and their attempt to reintegrate him into society.

The film is far from a suffer-fest. What I found most surprising is that although I feel mortified at the individual acts from which the child suffers, I don’t feel sorry for him in aggregate. And this isn’t because I’m a heartless SOB (which I certainly am some of the time), but because of something about the kid. He had been beaten but he was not beaten.

Near the end of the film a child counselor is trying to get him to open up about his experience. Presumably she has heard trauma similar to his before from other child soldiers. However he points out to us, through monologue, that she cannot truly know the things he has done. For him to say them is to acknowledge the monster he has become. While we feel sympathy for what he has endured his focus is on the crimes he has committed.

And while we would excuse his crimes as forced upon him by his environment, he shows that he has not forgiven himself. Like Clint Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven, he wears the visage of old man who has been to hell and sat with the Devil. He has done horrible things and he doesn’t run from that fact. He embraces it.

I should feel sorry for this boy who has had his childhood ripped from him. But in fact, I find myself envious. I am jealous of his experience. He has a maturity and just general hard-as-nails demeanor I could never match. He knows what is important in life. There is no bullshit with this kid and he doesn’t scare. He is, for lack of a better phrase, a badass motherfucker.

And that does not in any sense make his journey “worth it”. Not at all. This isn’t a happy ending by any stretch. It also just may be this young actor has insane amounts of charisma. All the same, I found myself wishing I could be like him.