Film Review: Breathtaking Oscar-Nominee ‘War Witch’ Honors Youthful Resilience

Submitted by mattmovieman on March 21, 2013 - 9:06am

CHICAGO – If last year’s group of Best Picture nominees are any indication, American filmmakers seem convinced that in order for their work to be taken seriously, it has to be super-long. I understand why a picture like “Lincoln” would have an epic scope, but did disposable novelties like “Django Unchained” and “The Hobbit: Vol. 1” really have to clock in around three hours?

Rating: 5.0/5.0

With a running time of exactly 90 minutes (including credits), Kim Nguyen’s “War Witch” has triple the impact of films twice its length. It was one of four nominees in the Best Foreign Film category doomed to be overshadowed by “Amour,” the only film most moviegoers actually had the chance to see in 2012. Now that Nguyen’s film has finally opened in the U.S., it will easily rank alongside the very best films of 2013. It’s a masterpiece.

Read Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “War Witch” in our reviews section.

Shot entirely within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, “War Witch” centers on three years in the life of a young girl in sub-Sahara Africa, played with astonishing assurance by Rachel Mwanza, a girl that Nguyen happened to find on the streets of Kinshasa (she’s gone on to win Best Actress accolades at the Berlin and Tribeca festivals). Her character, Komona, was loosely inspired by Johnny and Luther Htoo, twin brothers who led the late ’90’s guerilla group known as God’s Army in Burma. They were merely ten years of age when they acquired their positions of leadership, but it was rumored that the pint-sized warriors possessed magical powers, such as an imperviousness to bullets, that made them an indomitable force on the battlefield. It was this particular story that captivated Nguyen, inspiring him to craft a tale about a young African girl kidnapped by rebel soldiers who gains notoriety as an alleged sorceress. There’s definitely a spiritual texture to Nguyen’s film, as he allows fragments of Komona’s restless imagination to drift into the stark reality of various scenes. The souls of each person she kills materialize as spirits covered in white powder, and among the ghostly faces are those of her parents. Because early on in Nguyen’s film, 12-year-old Komona is forced by the rebels to shoot her mother and father, who encourage her to follow orders, if only to spare her own life. Cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc captures this appalling scene in one gut-wrenching take, sparing us of the bloodshed but none of the brutality.

‘War Witch’ stars Rachel Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyianda, Ralph Prosper and Mizinga Mwinga. It was written and directed by Kim Nguyen. It opened at the Music Box Theatre on March 22nd, 2013. It is not rated.

Continue reading for Matt Fagerholm’s full “War Witch” review.