After watching Sauvaire's masterpiece, A Prayer Before Dawn, I had to check out the work that put him on the map. Sauvaire certainly has a mastery over cinematography - his movies are shot as if they were documentaries, like the audience really is in the scene. Its incredibly effective and realistic. Acting was decent as well for a cast of complete unknowns and first timers!
Also with APBD, JMD comes with a very unforgiving language barrier (or in this case accent barrier). However, I can't say it was effective here as it was there. I'm embarrassed to say though I got the general gist of dialogue, I couldn't really understand a large majority of what characters were saying, despite them speaking English. I respect the notion of characters speaking in their natural accents without subtitles. But I do feel as if it impeded my overall watching experience.
There isn't really much of a narrative to this film either, I can summarize it pretty accurately as a collection of scenes involving Johnny and his troupe of colourfully dressed, coked-up rebels raiding towns and doing pretty horrible things. It ends on a pretty sudden and awkward note, as well.
Glad I finally got to watch this, but APBD in my opinion is the infinitely better film out of the two. I would also recommend watching Beasts of No Nation over this - definitely a more dramatized production, but an easier watch overall.
Also with APBD, JMD comes with a very unforgiving language barrier (or in this case accent barrier). However, I can't say it was effective here as it was there. I'm embarrassed to say though I got the general gist of dialogue, I couldn't really understand a large majority of what characters were saying, despite them speaking English. I respect the notion of characters speaking in their natural accents without subtitles. But I do feel as if it impeded my overall watching experience.
There isn't really much of a narrative to this film either, I can summarize it pretty accurately as a collection of scenes involving Johnny and his troupe of colourfully dressed, coked-up rebels raiding towns and doing pretty horrible things. It ends on a pretty sudden and awkward note, as well.
Glad I finally got to watch this, but APBD in my opinion is the infinitely better film out of the two. I would also recommend watching Beasts of No Nation over this - definitely a more dramatized production, but an easier watch overall.