THE SILENT ARMY is a Dutch film looking at the plight of child soldiers fighting for warlords in sub-Saharan Africa. The film humanises the story by having as its central protagonist a white man desperately hunting for the kidnapped son of a friend who has been taken by a notorious general and who is now a ruthlessly cold-blooded killer.The film I can best compare this with is JOHNNY MAD DOG, a Liberian effort which had greater authenticity and realism but hardly any kind of story. Thus THE SILENT ARMY is the better picture, even though the story is spoilt a little by the low budget; some of the moments are rather cheesy (such as a CGI explosion) which is a pity given the grittiness seen elsewhere in the story.The language is a mixture of English and Dutch. The acting is generally authentic and compelling enough to keep you watching. The film is violent and harrowing without ever being disgustingly graphic. The actor who played the warlord made the film for me with his completely chilling and efficient performance devoid of emotion and feeling. It's a film worth watching if you can handle the subject matter.

Sorry, but in opposition to many of my predecessors I think this is quite a strong movie. The book might be a bit simple. (An heroic European cook saving a child out of an African rebel army. This is indeed not very believable. And the little side-love-story was not left out as well) But the picture has very strong emotional moments, is well edited and shot with opulent scenery and the acting is not as bad as many others put it. Just look at the rebels leader saying the cruelest things with the softest paternal voice you can think of. "You can call me daddy" - What a thrilling ambivalence lies in this scene. And the weirdest thing about all of it is that while watching the movie you know that those things are really happening like that down in Africa. (of course except the heroic part of the dutch cook - but the cruel part of it is unfortunately true) I have to say that I knew nothing of a Mister Borsato (Main Actor) before I watched this movie. Being from Germany I didn't even know him as a singer as all Dutch seem to do. And maybe that made my sight on his acting a bit more objective. At least I can say that I have seen many famous singers or pop-stars trying themselves out in being an actor with much less success then Marco Borsato did. only my 2 cents...

A Dutch guy runs a restaurant in Uganda. He lives there together with his young son and their life isn't quite all that - he suffers from the trauma of having lost his wife and the political stability in the country isn't quite right either. When things go from bad to worse he's forced to do something about it.I guess the story could be worse. It is pretty standard, but nothing too bad. What makes this film bad is the fact that one of the main players is in his daily life a singer/entertainer (and a successful one at that), but he's not an actor. Most of the scenes he's staring into the camera much like a rabbit stares into the headlights of a car just before being run over. The other actors in the film do a better job, but the irritation of having one bad main character is so bad that their good work is overshadowed by his bad work.As a political message this film brings too much action, too much heroism. It might have left a deeper impact (on me at least) if it had not tried to be an action film. Then the real painful truth behind it all might have dawned some better, but not now. Now it's once seen, twice forgotten.4 out of 10 toe curling bad acted scenes

Despite the reviews (all of them were bad) I wanted to see this, just to see 'how bad, bad writing can be'. It delivered and went to the limit.How can a producer or even a director with some credit to his name ever cast Marco Borsato in this B-movie? He may be a nice singer, but that doesn't make him an actor as this movie painfully demonstrates. His personal involvement in the charity WarChild is noble, but this very long advertisement for this organization is a disgrace.The acting was non-existent, the story unbelievable, the action scenes right out of any Ed Wood Jr-movie. (That might read as a compliment but it isn't.) I truly had a really hard time staying seated, specially with so many people around me leaving the theater.