PIFF REPORT FROM HOMELY PLANET
tharp42 - Thu, 2007-10-11 23:42
EZRA
Nigeria/Austria/France, 2007
Ezra is a young boy, abducted from his village by rebel soldiers during the Sierra Leon civil war. He is given a gun and made into a child soldier, and a couple years later returns to the village with his rebel comrades during a drug-fueled raid, where they kill, rape, and hack off hands of the villagers. Included in the body count are Ezra's own parents.
Much of the film takes place well after these events, in the context of two hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a UN-sponsored program which goes into war and genocide-savaged areas in an attempt at healing and understanding. Ezra at first denies ever taking place in the village attack, but eventually admits to being there, though he cannot remember the details, due to the drugs and post-traumatic stress. The story of the attack and its aftermath are then told in a series of flashbacks.
Ezra is a noble attempt to address a difficult subject: the horrors of the Sierra Leon war and child soldiers in general. It's an earnest film that doesn't try to outdo itself, yet it has nothing new or particularly insightful to say, other than that war is horrible and we cannot really hold child soldiers responsible for their actions, no matter how heinous. The pacing is slow and much of the acting is really flat - some of it straight up bad. But we forgive the film for its shortcomings, because it's an honest work that maintains a subdued tone. We are spared the sanctimonious soap box speeches and character epiphanies that would undoubtably accompany such a movie if it was made in Hollywood.
Nigeria/Austria/France, 2007
Ezra is a young boy, abducted from his village by rebel soldiers during the Sierra Leon civil war. He is given a gun and made into a child soldier, and a couple years later returns to the village with his rebel comrades during a drug-fueled raid, where they kill, rape, and hack off hands of the villagers. Included in the body count are Ezra's own parents.
Much of the film takes place well after these events, in the context of two hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a UN-sponsored program which goes into war and genocide-savaged areas in an attempt at healing and understanding. Ezra at first denies ever taking place in the village attack, but eventually admits to being there, though he cannot remember the details, due to the drugs and post-traumatic stress. The story of the attack and its aftermath are then told in a series of flashbacks.
Ezra is a noble attempt to address a difficult subject: the horrors of the Sierra Leon war and child soldiers in general. It's an earnest film that doesn't try to outdo itself, yet it has nothing new or particularly insightful to say, other than that war is horrible and we cannot really hold child soldiers responsible for their actions, no matter how heinous. The pacing is slow and much of the acting is really flat - some of it straight up bad. But we forgive the film for its shortcomings, because it's an honest work that maintains a subdued tone. We are spared the sanctimonious soap box speeches and character epiphanies that would undoubtably accompany such a movie if it was made in Hollywood.