African childcare

War Witch (2012)

Finally had the chance of seeing this as I've been wanting to see it since I missed it last year on the Helsinki International Film Festival and even more so when it grabbed an Oscar nomination for best foreign film. I must say I was moved. This is a story about Komona, played brilliantly by Rachel Mwanza, a 12 year old girl living a child's life in her peaceful village. However one day the rebels attack the village kidnapping all the children as rebellion fighters and killing everyone else. Komona gets an assault rifle shoved to her hand and the first thing she's forced to do is to kill her parents. Needless to say this movie is grim. It follows Komona for 2 years as a child soldier, but it turns out she's more than that, she's also a witch who can see the ghosts of the dead, which makes the rebel leader think she's the key to victory. This movie is gripping and an extremely brutal portrayal how war effects children making them grow up faster than nature would allow. At first I was a bit puzzled about the whole ghost thing, but as the movie has almost like a documentary feel to it I understand that it needs those moments to escape from the cruel reality, otherwise it would just be too much and they fit the story very well. What I didn't understand was the romantic comedy part of this movie. I mean sure everyone needs love so I can understand that being even in middle of all this madness, but why the comedy? It just felt wrong, kind of like the movie saying don't take it too seriously, it's all fun and games. Then again as it takes quite a shocking turn after that part I guess they tried to maximize the effect of it with a bit of light hearted fun. I just think it didn't work as intended. Technically this movie was surprisingly good, it looked and sounded great at parts, and especially the documentary feel was a huge plus. I haven't seen the other contenders on the best foreign film part, but I'd say this is a very strong contender for the Oscar.

89%

I actually got a feedback asking for trailers for the movies I review. I though it's easy to watch them from the imdb link on the name, but sure I'll put a trailer with the review from now on.