A small, satisfying, and modestly clever indie with bite out of Canada. An apt description may be Lord of the Flies for the video-game-fixated Call of War generation. Set over the course of a single afternoon in a forest, the film pits two teams of children against each other in an intense variation on capture-the-flag type play. Each team receives its orders from a chosen general, and the game has rules, but on this day, various personal desires and frustrations introduce an element of more profound anger and menace into the military fantasy. The performances range from decent to slightly wooden (not unexpected considering the age and relative inexperience of the ensemble), but the storyline held my attention firmly from start to finish, and the pint-sized-war-game scenario is intriguing: at times comic, at times action-movie exciting, often disturbing and provocative.

B