I thought I'd tell you about a little movie. Well, not a little movie I suppose. The movie is called Beasts of No Nation and the cast of this movie includes Idris Elba who starred as Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The movie, set in an unnamed West African country, is about a boy named Agu who eventually becomes a child soldier and it follows his story. The movie is really quite good, except for one thing... it's filmed in Ghana. Now you may think, really Lisa, you should think this is a good thing, you love the country and it would be good for the country. Which is totally true. It's a great thing for the country. But let me tell you what went on while I watched said movie.
Back on new years eve I was at mom and dad's place not doing anything as per usual, I just really don't care too much about new years eve. So mom and dad were out somewhere that evening so I was stealing their Nexflix to watch a movie or two. I had heard about this movie before and didn't realize it was filmed in Ghana but I searched for it and sat down ready to watch a good movie. About 1-2 minutes into the film I was sitting there going "why does this language sound so familiar?" and "does the city and scenery really look like Ghana?". I came to the conclusion that maybe it was filmed in Ghana and that maybe it was Twi they are speaking. I googled it and found out that I was correct and it was filmed in Ghana (Koforidua and Akwidaa to be exact). Finding this out was extremely exciting. I watched the next 15 minutes in absolute glee. I could understand a lot of the speaking even though it was not in English. I even thought at one point that what the subtitles said was not really what the character said, although it did get the point across (maybe I was just being picky). I must have had the biggest smile on my face while watching the beginning of the movie. It starts just with the Agu and his friends and family around town establishing the character. I was excited the a country and people that are so near and dear to my heart were on the big screen. Now, while this was fantastic and all that, it was during this first 15 minutes or so that I completely forgot this was a movie about a child soldier and war itself.
The fact that I forgot what the main story of this movie was was particularly jarring after the first 15-20 minutes were up. It was at this point that the government and the rebel forces start fighting in Agu's village. Which inevitably leads to more fighting, shooting and killing while Agu and his older brother try and flee to safety. This part in the film lasts for a while, and while it should have been expected for a film with this story line, I had forgotten what the movie was about in my excitement that the movie was filmed in Ghana and the language being Twi. So to say the fighting, shooting and killing were a shock is very much an understatement. I spent the next few minutes watching the movie in shock and in tears. It caught me of guard that this place that I love was being shown like this. Now, I know this is a movie, the plot of the movie states that this takes place in an unnamed West African country, it isn't happening now in Ghana either. But wow, did this movie affect me in an extremely strong way. It was crazy. I actually almost stopped the movie as I could not watch it any more.
But finally the killing stopped, it calmed down a bit and the story continued. They stopped speaking in Twi for the most part and it was mostly English. I started to calm down myself and quite enjoyed the rest of the movie. Idris Elba was really good. The young Ghanaian actor whose feature film debut was this film, Abraham Attah, actually presented an award the the Oscars. The film and both Elba and Attah have won a few awards and Elba became the first movie actor to win a Screen Actors Guild Award and not be nominated for an Oscar.
I don't really know where to take this story now, there really is no moral of the story or anything like that, this is me were talking about. I do think its interesting how some movies or tv shows can affect people so strongly and have people have such an emotional response to it. How you can get so into a movie that you forget that the actor is playing the character (ie; Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight) and just get immersed in the movie.
In the end, I highly recommend watching this movie. I really do need to go watch it again to see what I missed in the first half hour.
That's about it for now, I got nothing else for you at the moment....
P.S. Wow, a whole post without an obscure reference to a random movie! I don't know if I'm proud or disappointed in myself.
