Wordiezett So much average

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

SnoopyStyle A pregnant older Komona tells the story when as a 12 year old village girl, she gets abducted by rebels and forced to kill her family. She is taken along to fight, and she falls for an older albino child soldier. Together the two walk away from the fight. He's on a quest to find a white rooster which he needs to marry Komona.This movie starts off with a bang... literally. It goes on with a compelling narrative as she's being forced to fight. However, the escape diffused a lot of the tension in the movie. It loses a lot of the danger. It turns more surreal and rambling. It's as if there is a different movie going on. I think an escape is better as the climax.

Larry Silverstein Canadian filmmaker Kim Nguyen brings this brutally stark and heart-rendering drama to the screen. Rachel Mwanza gives a magnificent performance as Komona, a young African girl kidnapped from her impoverished village, in an unnamed African country, and forcibly conscripted into a rebel military force fighting against the government. The movie details the horrors she subsequently faced from the ages of 12 to 14.On her first mission as a child soldier, the ghosts of her parents appear to warn her of an impending ambush from government forces. The leader of the rebels, named the Grand Tiger, anoints her as his war witch due to her supernatural powers which can help them in combat. As a war witch, she receives a higher status within the rebel group.Komona befriends a young soldier, named Magician, also superbly played by Serge Kanyinda. When Magician warns Komona that the Grand Tiger has killed the last three war witches, she agrees to run off with him and escape the rebel forces. With their bond deepening, Magiciain asks Komona to marry him, but her father had told her that he must present to her a white rooster before any wedding can take place. This becomes an interesting and rather touching part of the story as Magician tries to find her the extremely rare fowl. Komona eventually marries Magician and becomes pregnant with his child.I won't go into more plot details, as I'll leave them to the viewer. However, I will say that the rebels come looking for their war witch and that Komona must resort to increasingly desperate and brutal measures to try and save herself and her baby.In summary, despite the film being difficult to watch at times with its' starkly depicted violent realism, I found it to be well worth hanging in there. The powerful performances, writing, and direction, made it a movie that stayed with me long after it was over.

Holly Taplin I watched it last night, I couldn't stop crying, it was heart breaking, to see people, being treated, like no one should ever be treated. I don't understand why people do the things they do, It's just wrong that we live in a world where this goes on, Africa must be the hardest country to live in, my heart goes out to everyone there, cause it just isn't fair that anyone has to go through this one life we have like this! There aren't any words what can express what those people go through , Not that I would understand anyway, it's far from from my little world. It was enlightening for me though, I don't know much about Africa, but It is clear as day, that this violent reality of life they live, has to end! we need to put an end to this senseless brutality, it just shouldn't exist anywhere!

Sindre Kaspersen Canadian screenwriter and director Kim Nguyen's third feature film which he wrote and co-produced, is inspired by stories of real life child soldiers. It premiered In competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012, was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival in 2012, was shot on location in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is a Canadian production which was produced by producers Marie-Claude Poulin and Pierre Even. It tells the story about a twelve-year-old girl named Komona who is kidnapped from her African village by a group of lawless soldiers called the great tigers, recruited as one of their rebels and trained to become a participant in their war against the government. Komona is radically changed by the violence that invades her life, but her ability to survive amazes her commander and he names her "War Witch".Subtly and engagingly directed by Canadian filmmaker Kim Nguyen, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated by the main character and mostly from her point of view, draws an involving and heartrending portrayal of a 12-year-old girl's transition from an ordinary girl to a soldier equipped with a deadly weapon and her relationship with an elder boy named Magician. While notable for its naturalistic and atmospheric milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by Canadian cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc and use of sound, this character-driven, narrative-driven and humane drama about the loss of innocence, the psychological effects of war, survival and a fourteen-year-old girl's internal conversation with the child she is about to give birth to, depicts an incisive study of character.This romantic, at times humorous and somewhat mysterious coming-of-age tale which was chosen as Canada's submission to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 and where brutality alters the mind of a person whom is forced into a life where death is lurking on every corner, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, reflective voice-over narration and the impressive acting performances by Congolese actress Rachel Mwanza and actor Serge Kanyinda in their debut feature film roles. A spiritual and tangible love-story about the eternal power of life which gained, among other awards, the Silver Bear for Best Actress Rachel Mwanza at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012.