Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Elinor This was a very interesting movie, and probably the best filmed African movie that I have seen. This movie is about a young girl named Komona who describes her life and her situation that she is in. In this movie, the rebel army takes her in, and brainwashes her to kill her own parents, this eventually affects her throughout the film. Komona was seen as a girl with "special powers", and was seen as a "Witch" to the rebel force. My favorite character in the film was Komona, because despite the fact that she had to murder people, one of them being her parents, she was still brave throughout the movie, and managed to survive on her own towards the end of the film, after the Magician perished. Overall I thought that this movie was great, and would not have changed anything. I would give this film a 4/5 stars.

Roland E. Zwick In the harrowing, Oscar-nominated Canadian drama "War Witch," a young African girl is conscripted into a band of armed rebels, ordered by them to kill her own parents, then forced, along with the other children in her village, to fight against the government forces they're opposing. Because she seemingly has some sort of psychic visions of where the enemy is hiding in the woods (it's actually hallucinations brought on by a psychotropic liquid she imbibes from some local plants), she earns the position of personal "witch" to the chief rebel himself - a position that brings with it special protection as well (at least up to a point). But that's only the beginning of Komona's ordeal as she hooks up with an albino "magician" (the excellent Serge Kanyinda) with whom she tries to flee the horrors of the world around them.And it is those very horrors - the nonstop terror and violence, and the ever present prospect of sudden death - that writer/director Kim Nguyen captures to such powerful effect in this film. Despite its occasional forays into the surreal, what one takes away most from "War Witch" is its unflinching willingness to confront the brutal realities of life for Komona and the countless others who share her predicament. Then there are the occasional acts of random kindness that allow hope to flourish even in the most horrible of circumstances.And all throughout her ordeal, Komona must find a way to bury, both literally and figuratively, the ghosts of the parents she killed.Rachel Mwanza is utterly amazing as Komona, and she richly deserved all the praise and awards heaped on her for her performance. Whether it's her heartbreaking narration to her unborn child or the understated way in which she reacts to and internally processes the unspeakable atrocities she both witnesses and is forced to commit, Mwanza embodies a much larger tragedy within the narrower confines of a single character.It may be hard to watch at times, but "War Witch" provides an invaluable reminder of what happens when we send our children off to war.

tomigarciap "War witch" delivers the story of a young girl who is kidnapped by rebels and is forced to join their fight against the government. The rituals needed to become a child-soldier and the fanaticism to their leader the "Great tiger". The rebels soon realize that there is something special in this little girl. As an illustration of brutality and the madness of child-soldiering, the movie is a success. We are able to places ourselves in a reality that is very distanced from our own. But I believe the movie achieves no more than that. The film shows very shocking situations and it makes you feel angry and impotent, but so does any other story about child-soldiers. The movie lacks something else. Something that can widely differentiate it from any other tale of this kind, because there are in fact a lot of movies that deal with this subject.

colinbarnard-1 Kim Ngyen's "Rebelle" is everything that a Canadian film should be: a confident, non-American, distinctly Canadian look at the world around us. Ngyen's film succeeds in presenting vignettes of what a "war child" is presumed to go through: the indoctrination through brutalization, clinging to an immature version of humanity whilst expected to do very adult things, and ultimately trying to exit the soldier's life and find a life of normalcy. The magnificent Rachel Mwanza is the absolute centre of the film, richly deserving her Canadian Film Award as best actress, delivering far more depth of performance through her expressive face than delivering any of Nguyen's dialogue. It is incredible that a young woman of 13 can portray all of the experiences her character undergoes, including the rigours of childbirth. I hope that she is allowed to appear in more films- a major world talent. The film was made in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for a reputed $3.5 million. The actors are local, though the film never indicates what country it is set in (so as to better represent the African whole, I expect). While not the film's fault, it is disheartening to see yet another film about Africa that presents the continent and its people as wholly dysfunctional. Yes, there are conflicts, bad governments, poverty, blood diamonds and child soldiers, BUT, there is also everyday life, beautiful cultures, and struggles of 'people just like us'...just trying to get by day to day. Where the film falters, I think, is in trying to have, or at least imply, a happy ending for Mwanza's protagonist. After undergoing what she goes through, it is difficult to believe that she has the inner resilience to return to a normal 'teenage'life, let alone one of motherhood. PTSD has a way of rendering impossible functional relationships. Also, as noted in my review title, the film is much too short. I was reminded of Apocalypse Now in the themes that Nguyen deaves into, and I think REBELLE needed Apocalypse's length. Maybe we will eventually get 'Rebelle' REDUX. Note to the Producers: the film is a Canadian film, not a product of the Nation of Quebec. So, do not put Quebec as the country of origin on the DVD case. You took Canadian tax dollars to make the film, and submitted it to the American Academy of Film Arts as the official Canadian entry. I am proud that Rebelle is a Canadian film, IN French, one of our two official languages.