Unveiling the Dark Secrets: A Scene-by-Scene Dissection of "Beasts of No Nation"

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

Today: Beasts of No Nation (2015). You may download the script for here.

Beasts of No Nation
Scene-by-scene Breakdown
By Jacob Holmes-Brown
GoIntoTheStory.com

Pages 1–2: Introduction to AGU (10), a mischievous but innocent boy. Agu and his friend, DIKE, use the frame of an old television to make money off the occupying ECOMOD (UN sanctioned) troops. They and their friends “act” out the television programs.

2–4: Agu’s BIG BROTHER (15) spots the two and ropes them into another money making scheme: blocking the road with branches then charging bush taxis a “tax” to remove the obstacle. Agu is a willing participant.
An OLD WITCH WOMAN confronts Agu and she curses him (on behalf of his family) for her displacement from her land.

4–7: Agu (through V/O) introduces his “good family”; his FATHER teaching in a school and helping build a refugee camp on the land they gave up; his MOTHER cooking and caring for his BABY BROTHER and LITTLE SISTER; and Big Brother (obsessed with his looks and getting the girls). Agu and Big Brother fight and annoy each other as…