There’s something utterly unnerving about seeing a child with an AK-47. He can be
Nigerian, Sudanese or Canadian, but the sense of innocence lost, of that “Lord of the Flies” cruel streak too many of us carry with us makes the image of a twelve-year-old looking down a barrel with pure malice just chilling.

“I Declare War,” co-directed by Jason Lapeyre and  Robert Wilson, is an allegory about kids’ playing war that works better as entertainment than as allegory. The toy guns that this group of Canadian boys (and one girl) make out of sticks, cans, what have you, transform into real weapons blazing away with live rounds in the action sequences of this elaborate kids’ game run amok. And when they do, combat movie cliches fall one after the other as the kids cross the line from fun-and-games to psychosis and torture.

Showings: Floridafilmfestival.com