Ezra

With its indifferent camerawork and uneven acting, no one is likely to mistake this drama about the child soldiers of Sierra Leone for a work of art, but Nigerian-born, U.K. writer-director Newton I. Aduaka's comprehensive account of an African nightmare covers a lot of important ground, making this flawed film worth seeing.

Sierra Leone, July 13, 1992. A band of rebel soldiers armed with AK-47s and flamethrowers lays siege to the Windsor Anglican Elementary School, murdering teachers and kidnapping a number of young students who are then force-marched deep into the surrounding jungle. When they arrive at the army's remote compound, the children -- includin...