Komona, a twelve-year-old girl living in an unnamed African country, finds her life changed forever when armed rebels invade her village and recruit her as a child soldier after forcing her to shoot her parents. Over time, she is deemed to be a War Witch, believed to have the ability to sense the presence of the enemy and, disturbingly, see the dead. Not surprisingly, based on the subject matter, it is a deeply unsettling account of an unforgivable sin – the recruiting of children for warfare. However, the touchy subject is handled with great restraint from director Kim Nguyen, who manages to imply the horrors experienced instead of showing them in graphic detail. To its detriment, the film sometimes spends too much time on surrealistic elements that lessen the impact of the story, but it remains a memorable film about humanity's failings.

An engaging drama about the sudden change in the course of a young girl's life as she is forced into a rebel army made pre-dominantly of child soldiers, a tale that is all too common in reality. The film manages to be brutally honest in its depiction of the barbarism surrounding its subject matter without ever going too over-the-top, and although there are some supernatural elements, they are handled with subtlety and serve their purpose well in enhancing the story. Ultimately, despite a few uplifting and light-hearted scenes, 'War Witch' is a rather dark and sombre tale that reminds us of some of the more horrific goings-on in Africa.

Serait meilleur si Nguyen ne travaillait pas de manière aussi impersonnelle et calculée, sortez vos petits violons, le dude veut vous faire pleurer et ça parait

Barbaric and unforgiving, War Witch (2012, Canada) is a horrifying tale of child soldiers. Invested in the darkness of humanity although offering a brief comedic respite, War Witch is a socially relevant commentary aware of the repercussions of war and power. Dark 7

It is very important that you know what I did before you come out of my belly. A young girl has her village destroyed, parents killed, and is kidnapped by a tyrant known as The Great Tiger to serve in his militia against the government soldiers. The girl shortly after going into battle is identified as a war witch that can see government soldiers in the woods. She partners with The Great Tiger's war wizard to escape and they eventually fall in love. "There are many ghosts...too many ghosts." Kim Nguyen, director of The Marsh, City of Shadows, Truffe, and the upcoming Two Lovers and a Bear, delivers War Witch. The storyline for this picture is very compelling and contains interesting characters. It had a similar feel to City of God. I enjoyed the settings and execution of this film and the acting was very good. "The hardest thing to find in my country is a white rooster." I came across this on Netflix and had to add it to the queue. The premise of this film was very interesting and I enjoyed how the story unfolds. This was a compelling character piece that tells the tale of more challenging places and lives. I strongly recommend this film. "My wizard gave it magic powers." Grade: B

War Witch is a necessarily harsh film about impoverished/war-torn countries, that doesn't exactly have a compelling narrative, but holds your attention through documentary-esque filmmaking and a keen eye for brutality.

Heart wrenching but beautiful portrayal of a young girl who just keeps hanging on...

A strong and poignant film War Witch is a film that deserves to be seen but might be a bit too disturbing for some viewers. The acting is not the greatest and the pacing is a bit uneven but the film is so focused on what it wants to say that it traps the viewers and brings them into the horrors of Africa and its civil distress.

This film follows the experiences of a young girl kidnapped into being a child soldier and a war witch (a superstitious job wherein the witch predicts the enemies' movements). The tragedy and brutality that resulted from that kidnapping are sometimes too much to handle but we don't dare look away because we know this situation exists, who knows how many more abused child soldiers there is in the world as of this writing. This is one of those films that will grab you and will haunt your mind for a long time afterwards.

Moving yet disturbing.

Moving yet disturbing.

A young girl is recruited to join a child army, and when she escapes and forms a relationship with a fellow soldier, she tries to find solace in a dangerous world. Tense and depressing almost to the point of cliche, every horrible thing that you can imagine happening to a child does without fail. Portraits of desolate and uninviting worlds are always better when the characters have a hope the audience can share (think Midnight Cowboy's "Florida" or economic security in They Shoot Horses, Don't They). These hopes don't have to be tangible or even practical, but they have to be there otherwise we're stuck in Lars von Trier-hellscape. So War Witch is just one woe after another, and while the performances were natural and strong, the plot makes the film a downer in all the wrong ways. Overall, if you want to hate the planet for a while, watch this film.

A powerful film that tells a tragic story. Beautifully made

Confronting, hyper real drama about war and atrocities in Sub-saharan Africa. Filmed in the Congo, Komona is a 12 year old girl kidnapped by rebel soldiers to fight in their war against government forces. This exacting film follows her battle to stay alive and find normality again. Superb performances by the young leads ground this admirable that will make you happy this isn't your lot in life.

A haunting take on unspeakably grim subject matter

What was the point of making this into a movie?? Kim Nguyen apparently spent 10 years researching the subject of child soldiers in Africa. He'd have been better off making a documentary. Extremely slow and boring though heartbreaking...

Brutal and almost documentary like in it's reality, deeply melancholy - but with some sense of romance. It's pretty hard to watch, and is rather surreal in places. Strong movie making.

Should have one the ocsar for best foreign film very emotional and realistic.

You will be shocked and entertained at the same time. Very well made.

http://www.clevelandmovieblog.com/2013/12/war-witch-now-on-video.html