Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

Embeth Davidtz has had a good career as an actor. I first became aware of her as Miss Honey in Danny DeVito's movie of MATILDA, in which she was warm and endearing without a trace of sentimentality -- quite an achievement. Next time I encountered her was in JUNEBUG in which presented a completely different but equally believable character. It was evident that she was a high-quality artist. But nothing could have prepared me for how brilliant she is as a mother at the end of her tether in this excellent movie. Not only that; she directed and co-wrote it.

Her major triumph as a director is to bring out from young Lexi Venter a tough and beguiling performance. The whole story is seen through her character's eyes, so everything rests on her, and she totally delivers under Ms Davittz's expert guidance.

The movie is based on a memoir by Alexandra Fuller, who is the film's co-writer with Ms Davitdz. It tells of Ms Fuller's experiences as a child observing the process of her settler-colonial parents and their neighbours facing up to (or, in most cases, not facing up to) the return of the land that had been acquired in what had been Rhodesia to the newly-independent nation of Zimbabwe. The counterpointing of the political and domestic in Ms Fuller's story is its great strength, and director Davidtz makes it the spine of the film.

There's terrific support from the whole cast, with a special shout out to Zihkona Bali as Sarah, a worker in the colonial household who finds herself at the centre of a storm.

I really can't recommend this film highly enough. Please see it.

It's difficult to review a film like this because it wants you to feel bad for it's characters but they're all kind of terrible people. Fantastic acting from all parties involved but I think a few of the scripts issues that makes this movie more trashy than it needed to be.

There is a very uncomfortable scene that happens towards the middle of the film that really did not need to be there. It's only glaced upon once more in the film and it did nothing for the story. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

There's also a simplicity to this story that felt like it only got skin deep for me. The political climate in that part of the world is volatile to say the least, but the film doesn't really show enough of that to make us feel like real danger is looming. Just some couple who are loosing their farm to the native people of that land. Interesting, but not as deep or thoughtful as it could've been.

Overall, not a bad film, but not a particularly good one either. The film seems to wallow in this pit of a crappy childhood as opposed to the realism of the danger these people put themselves in and the lack of care for the native people of that land. Personally, for me, it dragged the film down and made what should've been a hard hitting story into something that was difficult to relate to.

2.5 dogs out of 5.

An unforgettable achievement - Davidtz, making a bold and assured leap behind the camera, directs with a rare combination of restraint and boldness. Davidtz, herself born and raised in South Africa, brings a rare authenticity and emotional precision to the film that elevates it beyond a simple adaptation. Beautifully performed, and devastatingly honest. A must-watch. The cast is a lineup of performers that feel entirely lived-in, as if pulled from the soil of the land itself.

In my travels over my lifetime, it seems as memorable as the geography was the people I met along the way. Among those was a couple from Cairns, Queensland, Australia, whom I met in 1986.

They were millionaire farmers in what was Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, who decided to leave quickly after some of their neighbors had been murdered.

This was after Robert Mugabe had taken over the country.

They were allowed to leave with only 1 car, and had to leave all of their other assets behind.

So they chose their Rolls Royce, which upon entry to Australia, leaned by law that the car would be impounded in a warehouse for 2 years . They were to use the car as seed money to start a new life.

So they invited me to dinner in their humble cinderblock house.

And I thought at the time and have for 40 years of their lives, previously comfortable after their family's generations in formerly Rhodesia having to start over in their 60s in a new country.

This movie mirrors their times, although from the perspective of a much humbler farm family and through the eyes of their 8 year old daughter, Bobo.

Where at the time (1980) normal life was for a mother to have over her shoulders an Uzi submachine gun slung over her shoulders.

Or shooting a cobra on your porch.

This movie is supposed to be "somewhat" factual, based on a novel.

But it offered an interesting glimpse into the times of the politics, through the eyes of an innocent 8 year old girl.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed all of Alexandra Fuller's (Bobo) non-fiction books, this film was inconsistent with the author's presentation of, well, everything. In the book her parents are written as free spirits who live life fully and while surely not traditional, are refreshing opposites of today's over- protective "helicopter" parents.

The film shows the very real lifelong wounds of a child growing up through the dangers of a war zone and is a strong reminder that resonates today. But the book also recognizes the values of living a life that allows experiences to teach us lessons of living with a passion for true freedom of expression.

In the book both views are beautifully interwoven without judgement and thankfully are not presented as what would be a false dichotomy.

This film shows a bleak view of the parents, the life, and only the spirit of wonderful little Bobo. Bobo's spirit comes from her parent's example and the film doesn't even hint at that.