Films › Cinematography
Beasts of No Nation
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2015
Cary Fukunaga served as his own cinematographer on Beasts of No Nation, which let him make handheld camera decisions during the shoot rather than negotiating them with a separate DP, and the result is a documentary-adjacent proximity to the child soldiers that never settles into stabilized coverage. Wide lenses used close to faces distort space slightly, keeping the viewer physically uncomfortable in scenes of violence rather than aestheticizing them from a safe distance. Fukunaga also favored oners over the machete attack and march sequences, extending takes so that violence unfolds in real time instead of being softened through cutting, a choice that demands enormous rehearsal discipline from a young, largely nonprofessional cast. Color timing pushes toward oversaturated reds and greens in the hallucination sequences, a clear technical marker separating subjective state from observed reality without resorting to dialogue explanation.
What to watch for
Notice which violent sequences are covered in a single extended take rather than cut together from multiple angles.
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