There’s plenty of movies about racism and racial politics. But not many of those are viewed through the lens of small children, for obvious reasons. Strange though, because the great versions of those can work amazingly: To Kill a Mockingbird was read by every middle schooler, and The Color of Friendship is one of the bravest Disney Channel Original Movies ever attempted. Embeth Davidtz gives us the South African version with Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, a strange title for a very strange, fascinating girl.
That girl is Alexandra “Bobo” Fuller (Lexi Venter), a 7 year old girl living in Rhodesia in 1980 (what will become very soon Zimbabwe). It’s a weird time for Bobo: mom Nicola (Embeth Davidtz, pulling triple duty writing and directing too) is grief stricken from the loss of her baby. Her older sister Vanessa (Anina Reed) and father Tim (Rob Van Vuuren) don’t really have time for her with their pets/work this summer. As such, Bobo eventually wanders over to the back house of their African housekeepers, Jacob (Fumani Shilubana) and Sarah (Zikhona Bali), where she bothers the pair of them with her inquisitive but tough questions, all in the backdrop of the end of the Rhodesian Bush War, and the election between Joshua Nkomo (the “real” African candidate according to mom and dad) and Robert Mugabe (a “terrorist”).
Davidtz adapts Alexandra’s memoir by cutting down the scope. We’re in Southern Hemisphere Summer (February and March) lasering in on that tumultuous time of different feelings across Rhodesia/Zimbabwe depending on who you are. Davidtz doesn’t have enough time or the directing talents yet to grapple with the bigger scope of the story to drive home all the points she wants to make, but it’s a great first feature, built around character nuance which was probably the best possible decision for the film. In that little house we have obviously the white Fuller family, but their beliefs are not exactly uniform. Nicola lashes out and asserts her power, but also understands the need for not just resorting to violence right away…and maybe those feelings aren’t just born from deep seeded discrimination. Through Bobo, Tim is even more of a blank slate, cause he’s never around and when he is talks more grounded and practically than you might expect from a white man from Zimbabwe. Then there’s Sarah and Jacob, our black African couple. You’d think harsh white bosses might unite their thoughts on how to act, but Davidtz shows that’s not the case either. Jacob is clearly working in the background to find a way out from under his oppressors, innately distrusting any white person near him, including Bobo. Sarah is the opposite, playing along dutifully and boldly parenting this eager for answers child in front of her because she sees none of that is happening in her home, hoping that those lessons will help break the cycle that’s ruined the country.
And there’s Bobo caught in the middle of this. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is really more than anything a surprising, excellent character study of a 7 year old 1980 African white girl. Lexi Venter is incredible in this movie. I don’t know where a 7 year old child summoned all this incredible talent to her disposal, but you simultaneously feel that Bobo is a kid just trying to figure out how the world works, and learns enough little things on her own to be wise beyond her years, a nearly impossible feat. And on top of that, she has to carry the movie with voiceover and be the glue that holds the whole story together. And Lexi somehow makes all of this work! There’s one incredible voiceover about her trying to understand where she came from that hit me hard and has stayed with me days after I saw the movie; there’s a scene where Bobo is playing with other black kids and Sarah where Lexi tells us how confused and irritated she is without her saying anything; and she’s gotta be funny and silly to be a believable 7 year old, getting some of the big laughs of the movie too. I guess that gig playing Miss Honey has waterfalled quite well for our first time director.
Time will tell if Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight becomes one of the canon for “racism through the eyes of a child.” But at least Embeth Davidtz can hold her head high knowing she gave it a great effort. And that she knows how to cast for kids. Let’s keep giving Lexi Venter work, Hollywood, Bollywood, Japan, Korea, UK, France. Doesn’t matter. She’s awesome and deserves all the opportunities she wants!