Beasts of No Nation poster

Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Film · 2h 17m · Rated R

Drama, War

A child soldier navigates the bleak, gritty realities of West African civil war, torn between revulsion and fascination.

A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is devastating.

Streaming on Netflix.

Beasts of No Nation parents guide

Strong sex and nudity, which is more than most R titles carry. Beyond that, brutal violence and some strong language.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Graphic gore
Blood and wounds shown clearly.
Violence
Brutal violence
Our top level for violence.
Sex and nudity
Strong
Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Beasts of No Nation scary?
Only a little. Beasts of No Nation has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is Beasts of No Nation?
Graphic gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.
What is Beasts of No Nation rated, and is it OK for kids?
Strong sex and nudity, brutal violence, and some strong language. The R is earned, so not for kids.

What is Beasts of No Nation about?

Based on the experiences of Agu, a child fighting in the civil war of a West African country. Follows Agu's journey as he's forced to join a group of soldiers. While he fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

No. Brace yourself.

Cast and crew

Directed byCary Joji Fukunaga
StarringAbraham Attah, Idris Elba, Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye, Opeyemi Fagbohungbe, Emmanuel Affadzi, Richard Pepple

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.