Every day after school, two groups of thirteen-year old friends play “war” in a local forest. They make their own guns out of sticks or old toys, anything they can find. But in their minds these makeshift weapons are the real thing. AK-47s. Grenade launchers. Even a pair of eyes that shoot lasers. It’s all fun and games, until one afternoon when things gets a little out of hand as bullies, pre-teen crushes, and popularity contests all come into play on the battlefield.

No Disney G-rated family fun here as as our heroes speak like real kids and brandish heavy artillery. Their friendships, loyalties and the tactics of their “game” are tested to the ultimate degree and, like their adult counterparts in the “real” world, find that victory and defeat are celebrated and suffered in equal proportion. With cinematic groundings in Stand By Me meets Full Metal Jacket and overtones of Lord of the Flies, I Declare War is certainly a film that is bound to spark topical conversation.