After his army assaults a bridge, the Commandant (Idris Elba) orders young Agu (Abraham Attah) to kill a man on his knees. The man insists that he's just an engineering student, but the Commandant manipulates Agu and insists that he murder the man. Agu eventually sinks a machete into the man's head, and when he freezes up for a moment, his fellow child soldier Strika (Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye) takes his own swipe, slicing a chunk of the poor guy's head off and revealing a piece of his skull. He then falls to the ground and both Agu and Strika continue to hack away as we silently observe in slow-motion. There are a ton of fantastic, devastating scenes in this movie, but this here feels like the most visceral depiction of lost youth as a cost of war.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
