Apart from its own substantial merits as a film, Beasts of No Nation might be a harbinger of a massive shift in the way movies reach audiences. Netflix shelled out a staggering 12 million dollars for the rights to Cary Joji Fukunaga's epic war drama, sending shockwaves through Hollywood. The four largest theater chains in America refused to screen the film because of its simultaneous release on Netflix's streaming service, which they deemed a violation of the long-standing 90-day window between theatrical and home release. While Beasts of No Nation has been relegated to a limited theatrical run, Netflix's subscriber base of more than 60 million viewers means the movie could reach a wider audience that would dwarf a traditional stint in theaters. Of course, all of this posturing and investing by Netflix would have been rendered moot if the actual product weren't impressive enough to justify those streams. But their investment in Fukunaga was money well spent: The director/screenwriter/cinematographer's unflinching chronicle of a child-soldier outfit in West Africa is both a serious awards contender and one of the best films of the year. A young boy named Agu (Abraham Attah) lives with his loving family in a quiet village under government protection, in a country ravaged by civil war. As the rebel armies encroach on the village, the women and children are sent to safer ground. Agu is torn from his mother and younger sister, since he is deemed old enough to take up arms with the men of the village in order to defend their home from the invaders. However, the rebels quickly overtake their community and round up all of the men to be executed for the crime of helping the "enemy." Agu watches as his father and brother are murdered, but he is able to escape and seek refuge alone in the surrounding jungle. Agu is soon captured by a ragtag group of child soldiers, and is nearly killed before the squadron's leader, a figure seen as a demigod and known only as the Commandant (Idris Elba), steps in to question him. The Commandant has conditioned his malleable young boys to take up arms against those who have killed their families, and in doing so has created a bloodthirsty, vehemently devoted army of child soldiers. The Commandant soon takes Agu under his wing and starts harshly training him to join the resistance force. Agu befriends Strika (Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye), a mute boy in the outfit, as the two become favorites of the ruthless Commandant. As he is introduced to the horrors of the civil war, Agu begins his transformation into a hardened solider. Beasts of No Nation, based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Uzodinma Iweala, features a cast almost entirely made up of first-time actors (the lone exception is Elba). Yet newcomer Abraham Attah is still a revelation: Put in situations in which few actors, let alone preteen ones, would be able to give a convincing performance, Attah expertly portrays both Agu's innocence and his descent into violence as soldier. Meanwhile, Elba is a magnetic and imposing force as the merciless Commandant. He holds his young army spellbound with his rhetoric, and his deranged behavior in battle sets the mood for the film's frenzied scenes of combat. The moments onscreen between Attah and Elba are sometimes disturbing, sometimes fatherly, but are always hypnotic. Fans of the first season of True Detective are well aware of Fukunaga's ability to turn the setting into another character in the story. In Beasts, his lush photography of the jungle juxtaposes the children's brutality with the beautiful but harsh scenery around them. In a scene in which the boys take hallucinatory drugs before battle, Fukunaga shades the entire landscape into hues of pink and red, creating a stunning background to a fever-pitched moment of violence. Fukunaga never pulls any punches in Beasts, but he's adept enough to balance out the brutal imagery with an occasional sense of restraint. With a different director at the helm, this picture could have easily been an exploitative and bloody mess. Instead, Fukunaga is careful not to turn the film into an overt "call to action," but instead gives voice to people whose stories are seldom told in our culture. Agu isn't an easy object of pity, nor is the Commandant a universally detestable monster. The movie blurs the lines of morality so deeply and viscerally that no one comes out unscathed -- including the viewer. Beasts of No Nation is a thorough, introspective war drama dashed with unnervingly effective bits of brutality, and regardless of its impact on the film industry, it's a must-see picture from a rising-star director.