Afurika monogatari

James Stewart was being coy if he said he agreed to appear in this, his last film, while on holiday in Kenya - it's not a cameo, he's in it all the way through and has the lion's share of the dialogue - what there is of it. The film is by Sanrio - the giant corporation that brought us Hello Kitty, and who were making films at that time in emulation of Disney. Hani, a director with some cult films under his belt, was presumably told to go to Africa and make something with lots of cute animals. There are animals galore - nothing but animals in fact for about half of the two-hour film - beautiful photography throughout - and that gives it an atmosphere all its own.

The pace is mesmerisingly slow and at times it feels like Clare Denis. There's a beautiful teenage girl (billed only as Kathy) living with her reclusive grandfather (Stewart) in the forest on the edge of the savannah. The dim light inside their lodge is gorgeous. Lots of cute animals roam in and out - a kind of Daktari Monogatari.

A light aircraft crashes in the wilderness and after a desperate time, including getting caught in an impressive wildfire, the survivor comes across the girl, who is given to wandering around with hippy joie-de-vivre among the lions and wildebeest. The old man repels the new arrival at first but after a further disaster - a rainstorm, even more impressive - reaches rapprochement. The whole things seems to convey an existential message.

The acting though is awful - Stewart looks uncomfortable when he speaks to someone and gets silence in return - and the storyline is bland, but the girl with her husky voice is winning and the animals about the house, including Tikki the mongoose - who gets a tragic moment - are great. It's a children's film, but there's none of Disney's archness and preachiness, only a quiet, drifting, philosophical melancholy that weaves a memorable spell. This would have been my favourite film for a while, as a 12 year-old.

The story behind "A Tale of Africa" is quite strange. Some Japanese filmmakers were in Africa making some sort of documentary film. But while they were doing this, they just happened to meet Jimmy Stewart and his wife who were on vacation there. They convinced Stewart to be in their film and hastily wrote a plot! Certainly not the best way to design a film...and the results are less than stellar.

A plane crashes in Africa and the man flying it survives but has amnesia. He finds a grumpy old man (Stewart) who tells him to get lost. Later, the survivor returns and this time Stewart's character and his nubile granddaughter invite him to stay. Eventually, the amnesiac's girlfriend comes looking for him.

The film has barely any plot and not a lot of dialog. In essence, it plays like a documentary (with tons of excellent but irrelevant footage of animals) which had a plot hastily stuffed into it...which is exactly what it is. The film, as a result, is neither a good documentary and is substandard when it comes to the story. You'd do best to look elsewhere...find a good African documentary or a story set on the continent. A sad final starring role for Stewart.

You might be excited to watch A Tale of Africa, James Stewart's last theatrical film - but hold your horses. Jimmy's hardly in the movie. Either he just wanted a free trip to Kenya, or he was doing a favor for a friend. He plays "Old Man" and very happily takes a backseat to the scenery and the animals. Personally, I wasn't happy to see James Stewart billed as "Old Man", but I guess everyone ages.

If you're looking for a travelogue, you can rent this movie. You don't have to, though. You can also watch Born Free, Roar, or any number of actual documentaries. This one is practically a documentary, with an extremely thin plot and very little footage of humans. Just know what the movie is, and then you can decide for yourself if you want to watch it.