I just watched the film and I must confess, the cinematography is brilliant but the film is very sad.
Good job welldone by Idris Elba and that boy Agu.

I liked it a lot. It kinda loses something seeing it online streaming but at the same time I feel like it's good to be seeing it at home because you can take breathers.

There was a great scene towards the middle which was a long 4 minute shot of the kids taking a building which culminated in Agu thinking a random woman was his mother and what happens after. To me that was kinda the crescendo of the film. I really liked that scene and I wish there were more like it.

I would say it was good but I felt that the violence was kinda underplayed for a war movie. Some of the cuts were really great. I liked the transitions of time with the Commandant waiting to be seen by his commander. I also feel like he arranged to have Spoiler 2nd-I-C killed because he was going to take over.

I didn't mind the lack of specificity to the region and conflict because it felt universal. I expected more scenes from Idris Elda but it was still really good.

I just feel like aside from the Attah's really genuine performance that there wasn't really anything that blew me away like some people were hyping it up. But it was still an interesting, thoughtful and heartbreaking movie.

So I saw this movie yesterday and it was followed by a Q&A with Cary Fukunaga.

Some things that I thought were interesting from that Q&A:

-Cary specifically stated that they were really focused on working with the local Ghana actors and child actors (where they shot the film) but the number was low so they starting scouting for kids everywhere they thought kids would gather (orphanages, after-school programs, parks, soccer fields, etc).

-Abraham (Agu) was scouted when he was playing soccer one day. He actually showed up to rehearsal because he thought that he was being scouted for a soccer team.

-There were around 30-40 scouted kids that went through an intensive acting workshop and Abraham was always the one who stood out after each workshop.

-Abraham's 1st kill was actually a scouting director who didn't find anyone and Cary said that the role was his punishment for not finding anyone.

-Preparing for Agu's 1st kill was actually very technical. There was a tube of blood sticking out of the man's head (removed in post) and the machete actually wasn't there (also added in post). The audience I was a part of was really focused on how this might've impacted Abraham so Cary repeatedly said that they explained everything to Abraham and his parents and that in the moment, with all of its technicality, it isn't as violent as it's edited.

-Cary got malaria while filming and other crew got gross parasites and sick.

-Idris Elba got involved with Beasts in 2013. Cary had a brief conference call with him right before going off to shoot the long shot of True Detective.

-Filming took 7 weeks

-Initial budget of film was 4mil and it went up to 8mil and they had to persuade financiers to give an additional 50%.

-Initial script had Agu killing the Commandant but Cary changed it because he felt like it was too neat and easy. He also said that he felt it was appropriate that there was an uncertainty and fear that the Commandant was out there somewhere.

-Worst parts of filming: weather - it would rain suddenly and for long periods of time. Unstable electrical power when filming.

-He knew for sure he wanted to film in West Africa but certain countries were uninsurable (Sierra Leone was one I remember him mentioning).

And that's all I remember for now but I'll edit my post if I remember any other questions.

EDIT 1: Audience asked about Cary Fukunaga movie commentary or physical DVD release. Netflix spokesperson who was there said that there are no plans for a physical release and any new/additional content would be released through Netflix.

currently watching the movie, am just disappointed, the movie is crap!!!

Daluuzor:
currently watching the movie, am just disappointed, the movie is crap!!!

Daluuzor:
currently watching the movie, am just disappointed, the movie is crap!!!

lol

personally, after seeing the first trailer, i thought the movie looked like sh*t. But it has Idris Elba so i mean, what the heck, i'm still gonna see it.

Also hearing it bombed @ d box office.

please I need a direct link or site to download this movie.