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War Witch Movie Review

War Witch is a 2012 Canadian war drama film shot, acted by and set in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a a harrowing viewing experience.

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“They’re your new mother and father“

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African rebels force a village girl to kill her own parents and join their army, but a miraculous event makes the rebels think she has supernatural powers. This movie presents a highly important look into the worst horrors that happen in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing in particular on the horrendous treatment of women. Rape, child soldiers, brutality of war are all present here in what is undoubtedly not a pleasant story to watch.

My main issue here is that the movie piled misfortune upon misfortune on the protagonist to the point that it became ridiculously tragic and somewhat implausible. There was no need to give her all of that sorrow and pain, but thankfully the actress delivered in spades. The characterization in the film is quite slight, but the acting elevated it.

Apparently, all of the actors are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, including Rachel Mwanza herself. She was living on the streets when they employed her for this movie and she delivered a terrific, naturalistic performance that is surprisingly competent for an untrained actor. Others are also fine, but it is her that steals the film for me.

Kim Nguyen is a Canadian director who is well-known for his quality films, but this is my first time seeing one of his films and I was quite impressed. He deserved all the accolades for such strong directing here. The editing is also strong and the structure is very interesting as in the second act we see love and romance and sweetness. Those perfectly contrasted the terrible nature of the other two acts.

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War Witch is also very well shot and scored and the emphasis on magic and spirituality from this continent was also interesting to witness. It elevated the film to magical realism, which I am always in favor of. I just wished for more message-driven storytelling and better developed characters. But it did deserve its Oscar nomination unquestionably.

War Witch is not the most pleasant viewing experience, but it does offer an important look into the worst horrors happening in Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular focusing on child soldiers and everything that they go through. It features overly tragic, at times plain implausible plot scenarios, but the directing is strong, the naturalistic acting is excellent and the film is tonally unique as the sweetness of the second act is well contrasted with the horror of the other two acts.

My Rating – 4