Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight Movie Review

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The title will be easier for you to remember and understand when you separate the section “go to the dogs” and analyze it. Something going to the dogs means it is in decline… it’ll “go down the drain.” I just wanted to get that out of the way.

Writer/Director Embeth Davidtz adapts Alexandra Fuller’s autobiography for her feature filmmaking debut and does a beautiful job of taking you on the journey of an eight-year-old girl, Alexandra “Bobo” Fuller, played expertly by Lexi Venter, who’s navigating her way through life during wartime in South Africa. We pick up near the end of the Rhodesian Bush War. It’s 1980.

She and her family live on a farm in Rhodesia which, when it later gains its independence from the UK, is known as Zimbabwe. The farm has staff, or you could see them as servants (slaves), because Bobo’s family is privileged. They’re white. The girl is quite innocent of what it means to be white in South Africa at the time, but her parents are very much racists in every sense of the word. Especially the mother, Nicola, played by Davidtz. She’s quite bigoted and doesn’t mind who knows. You’ll see this in a scene where she’s attempting to rid her land of some squatters. She also doesn’t much care for the help being around. However, Sarah, (Zikhona Bali) is an exception, as she’s practically raising Bobo, who is quite a handful. Someone has to do it, though! Bobo’s terribly drunken mother sure isn’t going to.

The movie has a beautiful score and the acting is gentle, the characters wise. Sarah and Jacob (Fumani N Shilubana) want Bobo to be a good person. They see Bobo speaking to some boys, lording over them. Sarah runs them off. Bobo asks her why she chased her boys away and she tells her, “They are not your boys, they are children just like you.” She and Jacob want her to grow not to be like her parents, but she’s already ordering black people around as if they’re her slaves. This is a very important scene.

The movies is seen through Bobo’s eyes, by way of voiceover as well. Nothing is happening unless she’s there to witness that happening. She doesn’t understand the world around her, but you can tell she repeats what she sees and hears at home. She calls people fighting in the war “terrorists.” She thinks any African can be a terrorist, (except for Sarah, obviously) and that “Africans and whites aren’t the same.” The tracker should teach her how he does what he does. “It’s the least he could do.” Hearing these things come from her mouth, it’s no wonder she asks her family if they’re racists. Sarah tries to tell her that African’s have eyes to see what white people can’t see. Jacob worries she’s getting too close to the child and may be seen as a collaborator. He warns her that she needs to be careful. He tries to teach her that the world is an ugly place, no matter how much beauty she sees. What we learn is that this is a lot of movie, which I barely scratched the surface of here. It’s an incredible story; one you won’t forget. You won’t be able to because it’ll most likely be talked about for a long time to come.     

You’ll see Venter much more if this is the career she wants. And she has a lovely singing voice. You’ll notice when she belts out the song, “Patricia the Stripper” near the end of the movie. I must praise the young actor. She’s exceptional You just may see her on the stage at the Academy Awards next year picking up first Oscar. Davidtz and Bali were outstanding, as well. I can’t wait to see how welcomed this film will be.