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Agu
The protagonist of the movie. A young boy who looses his family in a war in an unnamed African country at the hands of the military, he escapes and is recruited by a rebellion force lead by a ruthless leader.
- Anti-Villain: Agu doesn’t want to commit acts like murder but once he is a soldier for the NDF, there is no going back.
- Child Soldiers: He becomes one in the Native Defense Force.
- Forced into Evil: When he is recruited by The Commandant and becomes a soldier in the NDF. The first thing he is forces to do to prove himself is to kill a completely innocent man, which he had no other choice but to do. Then he continues to go along with whatever evil acts the commandant commands the army to do.
- Heroic BSoD: He has several of these throughout the movie. Such as after he was forced to kill an innocent man, he throws up in guilt.
- Tagalong Kid: Once his family is killed, he flees the village and is found by the commandant, who recruits him for the NDF.
The Commandant
A warlord and the leader of the Native Defence Force rebel army, who recruits Agu as one of his many child soldiers.
- A Father to His Men: Deconstructed. The Commandant likes to frame himself this way, but is ultimately a cruel and manipulative monster, who also molests the young boys under his command.
- Ax-Crazy: The Commandant is a cold and sociopathic warlord who commands his army to murder and rape completely innocent people, whom have nothing to do with the actual enemies he claims to be fighting against.
- Big Bad: The main antagonist and the most evil man in the film.
- Evil Mentor: Works as one as well, since he has his soldiers subjected to Training from Hell.
- Faux Affably Evil: He may be charismatic and seems nice to Agu when he recruits him, but he is actually an evil man who will not only kill enemy soldiers but random innocent people for no reason. Oh, and he also turns out to be a child molester who rapes Agu at one point.
- For the Evulz: He has his army killing and raping innocent people for no other reason than he enjoys it.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: One of the first things he does once he has reqruited Agu is to force him to kill an innocent man to prove his ”courage”, while the man begs for his life while the commandant doesn’t give Agu a choice.
- It's All About Me: The Commandant's actions in the last third of the film are motivated by him realizing that he's been passed over for the position he wants and is instead being Kicked Upstairs. To that end, he decides to fight against the rest of the rebels to maintain his pride.
- Karma Houdini: Zig-Zagged: We don’t see him recieve any real punishment for his crimes. But everyone in his army eventually have had enough and abandones him and it is left unknown what happens to him afterwards, as he simply exits the movie.
- Kick the Dog:
- He ambushes a gang of students and has Agu forced to kill one of them, who pleads and begs for his life, but the commandant doesn’t care and says that they’re terrorists and leaves Agu no choice.
- He molests the children and at one time does the same to Agu.
- The Leader: Of the Native Defence Force rebel army, where Agu becomes a soldier for.
- Manipulative Bastard: He has the charisma to recruit many children and teens.
- No Name Given: He is simly referred to as ”The Commandant” or ”The Commander”.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He rapes Agu, a child, at one point and is implied to have done the same to other child soldiers like Strika.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: The Commandant not only puts the kids through Training from Hell, but precedes the first mission they go on, a bridge assault, by telling them that he's only taking the brave.
- The Sociopath: A cold and ruthless warlord with no regard for human lives whatsoever. He murders and rapes innocent people and even molests children in his army.
- Villainous Breakdown: The Commandant goes through this at the end, once he realizes that the battalion intends to abandon him. He warns them all that they'll think of him when they're poor and not getting any support, but it finally hits him when Agu (the one soldier who initially protects him when the other soldiers aim their guns) leaves as well.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Once Agu and the rest of the soldiers abandons him, The Commandant simply exits the story and doesn’t appear again.
- Would Hurt a Child: He has his Child Soldiers go through a Training from Hell when recruiting them, where some of them mey not even survive. He also psychologically abuses Agu into killing an innocent man. Not only this, but he turns out to be a child molester as well.
