Synopsis: A civil war in Africa. After her village is burned down by rebels and her parents are killed, Komona is forced into the jungle as a child soldier. Her brutal commander not only trains her in the use of arms but also orders her to sleep with him. Searching for shelter amidst the horror, she turns to a slightly older boy with white hair who she calls ‘Magician’ and falls in love with. After they escape from the camp together, Komona does her utmost to return to her village. She wants to bury her parents to prevent them having to eternally wander the wasted land as ghosts … Told throughout from the perspective of an adolescent girl, the film – shot in authentic locations in Congo and cast mainly with non-professional actors – visualises the horrors of civil war and the suffering of children and civilians. Realistic images are interspersed with dream sequences which are rooted in African legends and which resonate with infinite grief about hardship and misery. Despite all the horrors she encounters, Komona proves to be a beacon of hope for a continent yearning for peace and humanity. [Synopsis courtesy of Berlin International Film Festival]
We've been following this powerful, harrowing film, titled War Witch, regularly on S & A, and it's one that I've been especially dying to see after Tambay's rave review last spring (HERE).
Read More »Telefilm Canada has named Montreal filmmaker Kim Nguyen’s child-soldier drama Rebelle (War Witch) as Canada’s selection for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Read More »Some worthwhile pieces of info - one that shouldn't really surprise you, and another that also may not be surprising, but is even more upsetting, but hopeful.
Read More »Tribeca Film has picked up USA rights to the harrowing, yet beautiful tale of courage and resiliency, otherwise known as War Witch, which I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival 2 months ago, and really dug (you can read my review of it HERE).
Read More »“War Witch,” Canada’s Oscar-nominated Foreign-Language entry, centers on a young African girl’s abduction into a rebel army, her escape, and the slow, painful process of liberating herself from the army’s traumatic, devastating reach. It is directed by French-Canadian Kim Nguyen, and is the second f...
Read More »The Toronto International Film Festival continues through next weekend, but Indiewire has already reviewed a significant portion of the program at various other festivals over the past year.
Read More »Canadian director Kim Nguyen's intense portrait of a young African woman Komona (Rachel Mwanza, who won an acting prize for her performance at the Berlin International Film Festival) kidnapped from her village and forced to become a child soldier is both light on details and rich with them. Her country of origin never revealed, Komona endures a series of hardships that unquestionably play off Western perceptions of African strife. At the same time, as Komona takes on the role of a keen survivalist, escaping forced marriage to a gangleader and finding her way back home, "War Witch" develops into a thoroughly suspenseful tale t...
Read More »"The Avengers" will play like gangbusters at the closing night of the Tribeca Film Festival this Saturday. This is less prediction than absolute certainty. But does it belong there?
Read More »An analysis of this year's Berlin International Film Festival from critics Shane Danielsen and Andrew Grant, who discuss some of ongoing problems with the festival as well as their favorites from the lineup.
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