War Witch - Movie Analysis

The film “War Witch” is about a 12 year old girl named Komona telling her unborn child about her experiences as a child soldier. Herself and others are taken from the village by the Rebel Army, she is forced to kill her parents or watch them die a painful death with a machete. It takes place in the Congo where other kids her age are abducted and forced into the army. There are thousands of children under the age of 18, forced to serve in Rebel and Government armies all over Africa, some go by choice. These children are as young as the age of 7 when they are taken into the military. 50% of the children that are abducted are girls. Child soldiers that are abducted and forced into the militia’s are forced into labour, forced to take drugs, recruited girls are raped, lack rehabilitation programs.

Komona is a 12 year old girl, who is abducted from her village by the Rebels. In the beginning scene of the film, she is given an AK-47 and is forced to shoot her parents, or watch her commander kill them slowly and painfully with his machete. Herself and the other children that are abducted from the village are brought to the jungle, given guns and begin their training. She is forced to carry heavy bags on her back, and if she complains or cries, she is beat. The new soldiers are given a hallucinogenic tree sap referred to as “Magic Milk”. A side effect from the Magic Milk allows Komona to see the ghosts of her family, and the other fallen soldiers. Her parents warn her of the enemy’s that are in the tree’s. Everyone on the front lines dies, accept Komona. Great Tiger hears about her supernatural gift and refers to her as his “war witch”. Komona befriends another rebel named Magicien. She marries him. The two stay at Magicien’s uncle’s home, which is short lived. It didn’t take long for the Rebel’s to find them. The rebel’s kill Magicien, and drag Komona back to the jungle in combat. She is forced into a marriage with her commander who rapes and impregnates her. She gets a terrible revenge on him, and puts her life at risk while escaping. “Since my husband the magician was killed, my father and mother’s ghost came back to give me nightmares. Each day the tell me to go back to my village to bury them. They tell me if I don’t bury them they will stay in my head.” Komona goes on a journey back to her village, on the way she goes into labour. She contemplates throwing her baby in the river because she thinks he is filled with poison due to being the product of rape. She gives birth on the river side. Komona continues her journey to her village. At the end of the film she buries her mother’s comb, and her father’s shirt in hopes that they stop coming to her in her dreams.

Children in the Rebel Army are forced into labour. The younger children that aren’t used in combat are often used as porters, messengers, or spies. Children are also sent across enemy lines to get information and nobody suspects anything