Life and Times of a "War Witch"

We first meet Komona (Rachel Mwanza) at the age of twelve, forced to become a child soldier in a violent civil war engulfing an unnamed sub-Saharan African country. With this kind of subject matter, you can probably guess that that the story will be traumatic and sobering, and that there will be very adult subject matter and intense situations that often will be difficult to watch. Terrible things happen to Komona, starting with her conscription, where she is forced to kill her own parents as part of the initiation. She is starved, beaten, raped, taught to kill, and constantly placed in harm's way. These things are numbly matter-of-fact. However, Komona survives by becoming the "war witch" of the rebel leader, the Great Tiger (Mizinga Mwinga), and befriending an older albino boy, the Magician (Serge Kanyinda).

While cruel and harsh, "War Witch" is a fascinating coming-of-age story full of strange wonders. Komona can see ghosts, or at least has strong visions of the dead, who are represented by people wearing white makeup. They exist so causally in the frame, it took me some time to realize that they were ghosts, and not some newly encountered tribe of people being conquered or displaced. They become a regular presence in Komona's world, just as real to our heroine as the living people around her. Magic and ritual are treated as vitally important, forces that must be respected though their workings remain mysterious. Charms and curses are common items of currency, and unusual occurrences are readily attributed to intervention by the spirit world. Thus Komona's title of war witch affords her some power, but rarely enough to keep her from further harm and tragedy.

Komona's story isn't entirely dark and harrowing. In the middle segment of the film, she and the Magician manage to escape the rebel army for a time, and have their own adventures together. These scenes are funny, romantic, touching, and even lighthearted. They're also important in helping Komona to come into her own. Rachel Mwanza's performance really starts to shine here, as Komona becomes less passive and more willful. She's sympathetic from the start, but it takes a while for her to become a truly admirable figure that you want to root for. Initially she and the Magician are thrown together by circumstance, and when they leave together she follows his lead. Gradually, however, Komona develops a real relationship with him, and it's lovely to watch. Serge Kanyinda's Magician is a fun combination of mystic, con-man, and frustrated teenage boy. We're reminded several times throughout of how young these characters are, but it doesn't have the same impact as seeing them being young together, when they finally have the opportunity.

"War Witch" was primarily shot in the Democratic Republic of Congo with local talent, mostly non-actors. The young leads have no other screen credits to their names. As is common in these circumstances, the film occasionally feels a little like an ethnographic exercise, but I was impressed with how well director Kim Nguyen was able to avoid exoticizing his subjects, always bringing out the humanity of the people and their communities. There's a great sequence where Komona and the Magician go to live with the Magician's uncle, the Butcher (Ralph Prosper). We see the pair participating in activities like extracting oil from the surrounding trees, working alongside the other villagers. It's not clear what they're doing at first, but as the camera captures the process, step by step, the exotic becomes normal, and we understand that Komona and the Magician have found their way back to the routine of an ordinary life again.

I can't help but want to compare "War Witch" to "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which is also tells the story of a young black girl surviving in a tumultuous environment full of dangers, and heavily features magic realism and fantasy. However, it feels like too easy a comparison to make, and probably not a fair one. "War Witch" is more firmly grounded in the real world, and though magic is a major theme, the only really fantastic elements are Komona's ghosts, who she may be imagining. "War Witch" is also a much more straightforward affair, without the wild visual stylization or the child's eye perspective of "Beasts." Its themes are more heavy-handed and treated in a more conventional way. After all, Komona's journey represents real-world horrors that plague real people. By necessity she's far less of an abstraction than fearless little Hushpuppy, which is why I think "War Witch" ultimately hit much closer to home for me.

"War Witch" is one of the better surprises I've had from the films of 2012. Yes, it's a brutal and unforgiving film about child soldiers, but that isn't what defines it. Rather, it's about a young woman surviving tragedy, realizing her own power, and burying her ghosts. It's a story that I'm glad to see told, and told so well. And I hope other people will find it.
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