Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight – Film Review
by Frank L

Director – Embeth Davidtz
Writers – Embeth Davidtz, Alexandra Fuller
Stars – Lexi Venter, Embeth Davidtz, Zikhona Bali

This is an adaptation of Alexandra Fuller’s 2002 memoir of the same name. The world of what was called in common parlance Rhodesia is on its last legs in this glimpse into life on a settler’s farm during the long-standing bush war of the nineteen seventies. It is late 1979, and elections will take place in February, which will bring this world to an abrupt but inevitable end.

The story is seen through the eyes of 8-year-old Bobo (Lexi Venter) and her life on her family’s farm. But, and it is a big but, their family farm is no longer, if it ever was, a rural idyll. It is on the front line of the bush war. Her family is under a relentless siege. In consequence, her mother Nicola (Embeth Davidtz), who is the power house of the family and also a police officer, cradles a gun in her arms while in her bed. Her father, Tim (Rob van Vuuren), is a soldier and is regularly away on duty in combat with the insurgents. In this world, Bobo is not in fact being brought up; she is growing up of her own accord. She is a tomboy as she rides a motorcycle and smokes. Other white children do make an appearance, but the dominant everyday influence on Bobo is Sarah (Zikhon Bali), a black servant. She provides a more constant adult presence in Bobo’s life than either of her stressed and fearful parents can.

Davidtz does not idealise everyday life on this farm, and there is something grotesque as Bobo watches the adults as they party, well-fuelled with alcohol, and block out the reality of the world which surrounds them. That world is about to overwhelm them. For all their sense of racial superiority, their world is full of contradictions which Davidtz exposes – genteel afternoon tea poured from a china teapot cannot hide the more prevalent alcohol fuelled existence.

Venter is impressive as the observant child of an enquiring mind. She observes the cracks that are apparent and records them. She can record as an innocent what the adults cannot see, as they are all participating in the action, which is leading to their destruction. Their time is up, but they are blind. Co-Writer/ Director Davidtz also stars in the film, and she is impressive as the frantic Nicola, unable and certainly unwilling to face what is happening. Her short-tempered rages, coupled with her blind determination, make for an impressive performance. The film is enhanced by brief contemporary footage of the bloodiness of the bush war and the gentility, of a fashion, of the white society exemplified by elderly white gentlemen playing bowls in white flannels. The contrasts are stark.

This is a fine film which delves deep into the mores of the white settler community in what was called Rhodesia. It is a painful watch in that the society it depicts did not deserve to survive. But seen through the eyes of the child Bobo, this is the society in which she was brought up, and her description of it as a child has a particular worth. Racial supremacy leads to the society which this film depicts. It is important to be reminded of the everyday reality of what this society was like. It is an important story, and Davidtz does a fine job of telling it.