Aduaka’s second feature is ostensibly about child soldiers in Africa. A series of flashbacks show the titular protagonist’s (Mamodou Turay Kamara) journey into and out of a corrupt rebel army. Kidnapped from school at age six, Ezra’s psyche is stripped bare over the next ten years, culminating in an amphetamine-fueled attack on his hometown. Fleeing the rebels with his determined sister (Mariame N’Diaye) and pregnant girlfriend (Mamusu Kallon), the film’s tensest scenes follow Ezra and his companions through hushed jungles. With the camera bound to this frail trio, every dark corner of the landscape hides potential violence and destruction.
A Truth and Reconciliation Committee, assembled for communal healing, initiates the flashbacks to these traumatic episodes. As Ezra admits his actions, at his sister’s insistence, the film addresses the process of rehabilitation for war-torn individuals and communities. For viewers in a nation at war whose re-integration programs are inadequate, Ezra’s treatment of soldiers’ psychology may emerge as the most poignant of its many strengths.
Opens February 13 at Film Forum
4 out of 5
A similar version of this review appears in the February 13 issue of The L Magazine, and can be read here.
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