It is a commonly accepted fact that we live in a relatively peaceful Western World. It is also a commonly accepted fact that we are fed atrocities in war-torn countries on our news channels, and so the world turns.

But the shattering truth for so many, is that atrocities happen not on their front doorstep, but in their rooms, and beds, and to their loved ones. Beasts Of No Nation deals with this in unrelentingly barbaric fashion. 

As with the TV news, so we are immediately shown a scene of an African country, this one being deliberately nameless.

The difference is, we see it through the skeleton of a television, the screen of which is removed. The camera tracks back from the skeletal television and out into the field of a village, where children play.

This is an unabashedly symbolic introduction that pulls us out of the news and into the reality of these nations.

Some boys of the village are trying to sell the TV. It is "imagination tv" as they call it, and a sympathetic young soldier buys it from them with food.

We are introduced to Agu, a charming young boy, with more than a hint of the Artful Dodger about him.

Such is the beguiling warmth of this world into which we are welcomed, that when the rebel soldiers arrive, the shocking efficiency with which they dispatch Agu's family is devastating.

So a boy is lost in the jungle, and in a manner of speaking, never returns.

He is snapped up by the unhinged, psychopathic military leader, Commandant, played with brute, primal ferocity, by Idris Elba.

Commandant adopts this lost soul as a new recruit, and as Agu continues to grow amongst his new, drug-addled, vicious militia family, innocents are murdered.

In one visceral scene, Agu is forced to slay one young man in horrific fashion. Mothers are raped, daughters are beaten, hell rises and villages fall. At times, it is difficult to put oneself through the film, but it is nothing short of necessary. 

This film is as visually rich as it is fundamentally terrifying. Close quarter camera work dances with elegant, formidable wide shots.

Gliding steadicam shots drag us through sweaty, dusty, bullet-ridden rooms, steamy, oppressively hot jungles and lifeless trenches, of which one can almost smell.

All the while, a haunting soundtrack reminiscent of Apocalypse Now both slithers and struts in the background.

And what of the cast? They are uniformly powerful. Elba brings his natural majesty to a morally repugnant war lord. He is in full muscle-flexing dominant male mode.

Special mention must be made of Abraham Attah, whose portrayal of Agu is as heartbreaking as it is revelatory. His steady gaze and deeply entrenched emotional access immediately vaults him towards the territory of such star child performances as Jeane-Pierre Léaud from The 400 Blows, and Leonard Proxauf of The White Ribbon. 

When the credits finally roll, and the audience collectively pat themselves on the back for surviving this onslaught to the heart and brain, they are confronted with the fact that they've just seen one of the films of the year.

Beasts of No Nation is available on Netflix from Friday (October 16).

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