THE SILENT ARMY (WIT LICHT) .World Cinema

Even in a barbarous era, one practice that still seems like a special crime against nature is the kidnapping of children by guerrilla forces with the intent of turning them into murderers. It’s the impulse to fight this inexcusable outrage that lies at the resilient heart of THE SILENT ARMY. Having grown up on the Congo/Rwanda border, Belgian writer/director Jean van de Velde knows his subject and setting intimately and succeeds in injecting topical concerns into a story of African political strife far more successfully than attempts by outsiders. The Netherlands’ foreign language Oscar submission, this involving drama follows a father and son who plunge deep into the heart of darkness looking for another boy who has been swept into bondage by a rebel army leader. Played to mesmerizing effect by Abby Mukiibi Nkaoga, the leader quietly tells his terrified young charges, “You can call me Daddy,” while instructing them how to kill.