War Witch

Plot

During a civil war in sub-saharan Africa, a 12-year-old girl named Komona is abducted by rebel forces to become a child soldier under a warlord known as the Great Tiger. The rebels compel Komona to kill her own parents. After drinking tree sap, she begins to experience vivid illusions. When her visions enable her to survive an attack, she is considered to be a child witch and is viewed as an asset by the Great Tiger, who also attempts to make her a concubine.

Komona and her young love interest, an albino boy known as Magician, eventually escape the rebels and move to a town. He hopes to marry her, and she asks him to capture a mystical white rooster to secure her agreement. However, she is kidnapped by one of the Great Tiger's commanders and Magician is killed. After Komona is raped by the commander, she kills him and runs away to her deserted home town, narrating her life story to her fetus. There she gives birth to a baby boy whom she names after the magician.

Production

Montreal director Kim Nguyen wrote the screenplay over a period of 10 years, inspired by an article about children in Burma leading a rebellion force. In researching the film, Nguyen met real child soldiers and humanitarian staff. He envisioned his project as "a redemption story about a child who lives through war and peace."

War Witch was primarily filmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nguyen discovered Rachel Mwanza and numerous other child actors for his cast in Kinshasa, DRC, after open auditions. Mwanza had never acted before, and was 15 by September 2012. Nguyen said that "Rachel was living in the streets before we did the film". Besides the novice Congolese actors, professional Canadian actors joined the cast.

Most of War Witch was filmed in the order of the story. It was only the second film shot in the DRC in 25 years, and due to security concerns, the crew was accompanied by soldiers with AK-47s, and insurance was challenging to obtain.

Release

The film had its debut at the Berlin International Film Festival on 17 February 2012, where it was seen by 1,500 people. Nguyen became the first Canadian to compete for the Silver Bear in 13 years. In the spring, it played in North America for the first time at the Tribeca Film Festival. It also screened from 14 to 15 September at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

It had a limited release in Toronto and Ottawa on 21 September 2012. At Tribeca, distribution rights were sold for the United States.

Critical reception

War Witch has a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 61 reviews. Guy Dixon, writing for The Globe and Mail, gave the film three stars, saying it transcended war films and Rachel Mwanza gave a great performance. The National Post rated it three stars, declaring it "a film you won’t be able to look away from no matter how hard you want to". Jay Stone of The Winnipeg Free Press assessed the film as "harrowing" with "strikingly authentic performances", including from Mwanza.

Stephen Holden's The New York Times review complimented the film for its portrayal of Komona, lacking luridness or smugness. In Variety, Leslie Felperin said the treatment was appropriately "harrowing" for the topic, and positively reviewed Nguyen's aptitude. The Boston Globe's Ty Burr assessed it as "grim yet clear-eyed, and it seeks out glimmers of hope in individual resilience and in the connections that bind us together". In The Hollywood Reporter, Deborah Young hailed it as an "extraordinary story". University of Berlin film scholar Claudia Kotte wrote War Witch, with Incendies (2010), Monsieur Lazhar (2011) and Inch'Allah (2012), represent a break from focus in the Cinema of Quebec on local history to more global concerns.

Accolades

The film was Canada's entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 85th Academy Awards. It was a rare Canadian submission for featuring a substantial amount of Lingala as well as French. It was among nine shortlisted in December 2012, and became one of the five nominees. Mwanza received a visa to allow her to attend the Academy Awards. It was the third consecutive Quebec film nominated, following Incendies and Monsieur Lazhar, with Nguyen proclaiming "People around the world are looking at Quebec cinema now and waiting for the next director to come out of here. This has a tremendous impact on a country’s recognition outside of its borders."

The film was in competition for the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012. It also triumphed at the 1st Canadian Screen Awards, which replaced the Genie Awards that year in honouring Canadian film.