Rebelle

English title: War Witch

Genre: humanitarian drama

With: Rachel Mwanza (Komona), Alain Lino Mic Eli Bastien (the Rebel Commander), Serge Kanyinda (the Magician), Mizinga Mwinga (the Grand Tigre Royal), Ralph Prosper (the Butcher), Jean Kabuya (the School camp coach)

Director: Kim Nguyen

Screenplay: Kim Nguyen

Release: 2012

Studio: Item 7, Shen Studio

Rating: 14A

MBiS score: 8.4/10 

 

Sacrificed on the Altar of War    

 

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Story-line: somewhere in Equatorial Africa, a young woman named Komona speaks to the fetus in her womb: "One day, you will have to come out of my belly and I have to tell you how your mother became a soldier." Haunted by her appalling past, she prays God for the strength to love this child she had never planned on having.

Pluses: flawless acting by Rachel Mwanza and a convincing cast, a frank and logical screenplay that explores a tragic issue seldom discussed in the Western world, excellent direction that meets the technical challenges of location filming, beautiful cinematography (Nicolas Bolduc) and natural settings, professional production values.

Minuses: although some scenes are quite violent, they are essential to show the atrocious fate of child soldiers.

Comments: from the day she is orphaned and abducted at the tender age of 12 to the time of her pregnancy, Komona's life is a succession of horror stories that REBELLE documents unflinchingly but with the sympathy this woman truly deserves. What Québécois director Kim Nguyen has fashioned here is a very different, jarring and impressive film that weaves an extraordinary story and bears witness to human resilience in the face of brutality. This is what I call worthy, valuable cinema. 

 

MBiS 

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