War creates a state of no-rights which allows for all kinds of impunity and madness. It normalizes death, standardizes barbarity, maintains fear and phantasmagoria, brings back to life-old demons, overturns morality and humanity. -Jean-Stephane Sauvaire Of the many injustices brought about by modern warfare in Africa is the perpetuation of the child soldier. Every year, thousands of youths are drafted into armies, forced to leave home, and abandon school. Based on a novel by Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala, the film pivots on 15-year-old Johnny robbing and murdering a swath across what could be anywhere from Liberia to the Ivory Coast. In his path stands 13-year-old Laokole, hoping to use an education as her ticket out of desperation. Johnny and Laokole are two archetypes that illustrate the tragedy of an inherently paradoxical situation brought about by civil conflict, and the choices those trapped in such situations are faced with.