It was more of a groundbreaker than anybody could have imagined. Beasts Of No Nation premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015 before a limited cinema release, but this was no ordinary launch. It was Netflix’s first in-house film, kicking off the production side of the business and setting in motion a continuing change in the movie landscape.
It’s also regarded as one of the streamer’s best originals and it’s available to watch now on Netflix in both the US and UK (check out our best movies on Netflix guide for more films to enjoy).
The harrowing story of child soldiers in a West African civil war also marked the producing debut of Idris Elba, a rapidly rising talent at the time after his TV debut in The Wire (2002) and films including American Gangster (2007) and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (2013). He played a pivotal role in the film as well, as the Commandant, the manipulative leader of the mercenaries who commands the loyalty of the young boys with a lethal combination of brutality and apparent caring. The film’s power to shock, especially in its images of weapon-wielding children, hasn’t diminished in the nine years since its release, and it’s also one of Elba’s most striking performances.
New on Netflix this week August 17-23
The Harder They Fall, Jeymes Samuel’s genre-bending western, is also available to watch now on Netflix. More recently, Elba enjoyed success on Apple TV Plus in Hijack, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at next month’s ceremony. The show, which he also executive produced, has just started filming a second series and is expected to return next summer.
The first outing revolved around a hijacked plane en route from Dubai to London and had viewers on the edge of their seats with its twists and turns set in a real-time narrative. Elba played the smooth yet smart negotiator, attempting to talk the hijackers into bringing the plane to safety and, while the plot for season two is tightly under wraps, both the actor and co-creator Jim Field have hinted at a new scenario. Talking to TV Insider before the show’s renewal was announced, Field said: “It would be interesting to see how he [Sam Nelson, Elba’s character] reacts in other situations.”
But with season two as much as a year away, there’s time to catch up with some of Elba’s best performances — especially the one in what turned out to be a history-making film.
Beasts of No Nation and The Harder They Fall are on Netflix now.