The story of Ezra is a powerful tale about a child taken away and raised under the iron fist of a rebel leader. In Africa, a handful of countries that are dealing with corrupt governments or civil war contain half the number of the world’s child soldiers. As a problem that is out of our hands, as movie watchers we witness the specific story of Ezra, and his experiences.
In the movie, many names and places are left blank: the name of the country, the rebel leader, and most last names as well. This gives the story a sense of anonymity, letting it be an outline and explanation for thousands of stories about children in guerilla groups. The filmmaker makes sure to give enough detail that we relate to Ezra as a real person and not just as a story. If Ezra had been any vaguer it would lose any sense of reality and automatically become a fiction tale in our minds.
Although it’s left unclear, Ezra most likely takes place in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is most well known for the blood diamond situation it faces and the recent civil war, which ended in 2001. As portrayed in the movie, many guerrilla groups cut off hands and feet of male and female people alike. Many people automatically assume that the soldiers doing this are heartless or cold-blooded, but in Ezra it shows the brainwashing, sleep deprivation, and amphetamine injections of the children making them zombies and unaware of their actions.
The movie’s cinematography is strategically placed flashbacks that happen during a trial before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The trial is a great present-day place for the movie because it displays the process of recollection of memories and thoughts in contrast to who he really is as a person, post-war. It’s hard to see this kind of reality, and in Ezra the trial is hope for the future and the beginning process of healing.
