War Witch (2013)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simply A Masterpiece

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I thought that Rebelle was a very interesting movie to watch during class. I found the characters to be very compelling and the story to be a great view. Though, I didn't really understand why she was able to do everything that she could. Why was she able to see ghosts and why was she able to kill all of the soldiers? I understand that most of it was just for effect, but why was it able to happen in the first place? Also, I was confused about all of the spiritual aspects of the story. The magician had a large amount of talismans that he would give away like a sort of currency, but what were they? Also, why did the uncle continue to let the magician and the witch back into his house after they repeatedly destroyed his life? It probably has to do with the weight that family has in African culture, but I couldn't imagine anyone in America doing that.

When we think of African countries, many Westerners think of countries in the midst of bloody civil wars involving child soldiers, senseless violence, AIDs, etc. Our impression of African countries is one that we've learned from movies like Blood Diamond and from images presented by charities and documentaries with major press coverage like Invisible Children and the Kony 2012 campaign. The unintended consequence of these shocking images, presented for the heartfelt purpose of raising awareness, is this: the single story. We have a few images serving as one generic story representing an entire continent of countries and cultures.The complexities, variations, and even just the common middle-class, everyday lives that exist in African countries are reduced to this single story: of starving, war-torn people waiting for the rest of the world to save them by donating a few dollars, or by buying a "buy one give one" pair of Toms shoes.War Witch embodies the single story that many Westerners think of the "country of Africa" because we simply meld all African countries together into one homogeneous war-torn state. In fact, War Witch doesn't even differentiate which country or war the story represents. The setting is simply "Africa." The Beauty of War Witch As I watched the first few scenes of the film, the tragedy of the child soldier story quickly become apparent as the movie's story. I was initially disappointed as it is a story with which I'm already familiar. Luckily, the beauty of this film's simplicity also became apparent. Without much dialogue, we as an audience were able to suspend our disbelief and appreciate the supernatural aspects of the story as a child's attempt to cope with the tragedies she faces. We watch as she deals with death, separation, and heartbreak while she is haunted by ghosts of her parents. The ghosts aren't cheesy nor are they scary, they are simply haunting reminders that the soul of the main character is not at rest.While the child conveys strength through each atrocity she faces, we as an audience are reminded by the white ghosts that she is not at ease. Title slides appear at different moments throughout the film and denote our young protagonist's ages throughout the film: 12, 13 and 14 years old. Displaying her age, rather than a date and time, reminds us of the innocence robbed as we travel with the main character through her struggles as she "forces tears back into her eyes." Were it not for these displays of her age, we would forget that the strength shown by the young woman is actually shown by a child. Nguyen excels at reminding the audience of this, in portraying the child's coping mechanisms through supernatural visions, and at having us witness tragedy without astoundingly gory scenes that, while they may be more accurate, would distract from our journey with the child.Visit aMovieaCountryaJourney.com for more.

War Witch is more a lesson in movie production than movie making. It is not the first to tackle to topic of child soldiers, with Johnny Mad Dog (2008) first coming to mind, but the female lead character changes the standpoint drastically. Then there is a love story which toned down the reality of war and made War Witch more appealing while touring the international film festival circuit.The movie follows a girl recruited to a rebel army in Sub-Saharan Africa. The narrative is close to a documentary and mostly chaotic, as it is to be expected in a country torn apart by a long and exhausting civil war. However, it offered no answer to the absurdity of violence apart from looking into oneself for solace.War Witch is not bad despite occasional drops in performance by the cast.

During African civil war, Komona, a 14-year old African rural girl, gets abducted by some brutal rebellious chaps and bears unbearable woes, along with an unborn war child in her miserable fate. Kim Nguyen, in his path of direction, seems brilliant with the treatment of children psychology in that inhuman environment. He beautifully represents the war-witch, Komona's romance with the Magician who was also believed to have some spiritual ability just like her. The way how Komona is forced to be mature in the cruel world at her early days and her mental conflicts during her pregnancy would play with our sentiments and emotions a lot. A deep melancholy tone flows throughout the film with narratives. Definitely an applauding pick of Oscar board (Y)___