Good start, but then it gets ruined

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Ana's Playground was screened earlier tonight at the Minneapolis Film Festival with an array of wonderful short films. Ana's Playground stunned the sold out auditorium. Writer/Director Eric D. Howell has created and crafted a riveting story about children and war. Ana's Playground looks right, sounds right and plays shockingly right in its urban war zone setting - one of those pockets of rubble, shredded flesh and monochromatic color that exist in Gaza, Baghdad, Rwanda, Bosnia, Dresden and Detroit in the mid-1960's. Only 16 minutes long, the film succeeds at the highest levels of the short story form by making its point dramatically, believably and quickly. It does so while generating untempered tension. I rank it with "Grave of the Fireflies" (Japan), "The Road" (U.S.) and "Turtles Can Fly" (Iran/Iraq) in its honest portrayal of a child's point of view regarding the terrible worlds that grown-ups have had no-business foisting on them.