July 16, 2025
FILM: DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT
DIRECTED BY: EMBETH DAVIDTZ
STARRING: LEXI VENTER, EMBETH DAVIDTZ, ZIKHONA BALI
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Based on a memoir by Alexandra Fuller, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, tells the story of the Fuller family living on a farm in Rhodesia in 1980. It is a time of war in South Africa and elections are being held which will eventually change the face of the nation as it becomes known as Zimbabwe. This is another one of those great narratives that presents a setting that some of us in the west know little about. At least, I didn’t before I viewed this film. What’s perhaps most interesting about it is that it is told from the perspective of an eight-year old girl named Bobo. She is played with complete wonder by Lexi Venter. The character rides a motorbike holding on to a rifle. Her hair is dirty and she occasionally lights up a cigarette. She’s seen more in her eight years that many of us might see in a lifetime. Yet, she remains an endearing and wide-eyed girl just observing what is happening around her.
The film was directed by Embeth Davidtz who also adapted the memoir AND plays Bobo’s tough mother Nicola. It’s a truly impressive work all around for the first-time director. The primary issue at hand is how the Zimbabwean War for independence affects this one white family. Local Africans work as servants in the Fuller’s home while others are fighting for their freedom. Bobo has established a particularly strong bond with Sarah, played by a wonderful Zikhona Bali, who takes care of many of the family’s needs. Bobo generally has a very good relationship with the local Africans but is warned by her mother that many could be terrorists. Hence, they all keep rifles nearby.
Bobo is the embodiment of innocence as she moves about the world observing the disturbing events that occur around her. She asks her mother if the family is racist. Bobo doesn’t really understand what that might mean but she comes across as pretty intelligent for her age. Through a few flashbacks, we learn that Bobo has already experienced a sense of loss in her life. In fact, she seems to be absorbing a wide range of people’s viewpoints about everything from the war (which is also shown in news clips) to perspectives on religion. Yet, she also demonstrated moments of pure childhood innocence as she plays with the family’s many pets and indulges in a dance or two.
Perhaps most astonishing is how she watches her mother become increasingly unhinged, especially as the family farm is being threatened. Davidtz directs her own performance as Nicola to some powerfully emotional moments. At the same time Venter, as Bobo, never misses a beat in capturing her character’s rising maturity. There’s a particularly strong scene when Bobo encounters a poor African family while out on her motorbike. They ask her to join them for a meal. Bobo is reluctant, knowing that she could be in some danger, but because Bobo is open-minded she cautiously straddles the line and accepts. It’s a tense scene in which our own prejudices might feed that sense of uneasiness.
As expected, the family lives side by side with animal inhabitants including dogs, horses, snakes, and birds. Granted, this is a farm, but Davidtz’s camera zeros in on them. The connections between humans and the animals are mostly very harmonious suggesting that perhaps the whites who colonized the country may have missed the boat on how to live together without such severe divisions of power.
Ultimately this is Bobo’s story though as she, perhaps unconsciously, attempts to understand her own identity and place among the divisions and diversity around her. While the film is based on Fuller’s memoir, Davidtz has also stated that the story resonated with her as her own family experienced the “casual acts of racial violence occurring around me daily.” She is asking for us to consider here: What happens to a child who is surrounded by violence and prejudice? How is racism passed down generationally? How does the fight for land ownership distort people’s world view? Who wins?
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight opens in limited theaters July 17th.
FILM: DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT
DIRECTED BY: EMBETH DAVIDTZ
STARRING: LEXI VENTER, EMBETH DAVIDTZ, ZIKHONA BALI
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Based on a memoir by Alexandra Fuller, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, tells the story of the Fuller family living on a farm in Rhodesia in 1980. It is a time of war in South Africa and elections are being held which will eventually change the face of the nation as it becomes known as Zimbabwe. This is another one of those great narratives that presents a setting that some of us in the west know little about. At least, I didn’t before I viewed this film. What’s perhaps most interesting about it is that it is told from the perspective of an eight-year old girl named Bobo. She is played with complete wonder by Lexi Venter. The character rides a motorbike holding on to a rifle. Her hair is dirty and she occasionally lights up a cigarette. She’s seen more in her eight years that many of us might see in a lifetime. Yet, she remains an endearing and wide-eyed girl just observing what is happening around her.
The film was directed by Embeth Davidtz who also adapted the memoir AND plays Bobo’s tough mother Nicola. It’s a truly impressive work all around for the first-time director. The primary issue at hand is how the Zimbabwean War for independence affects this one white family. Local Africans work as servants in the Fuller’s home while others are fighting for their freedom. Bobo has established a particularly strong bond with Sarah, played by a wonderful Zikhona Bali, who takes care of many of the family’s needs. Bobo generally has a very good relationship with the local Africans but is warned by her mother that many could be terrorists. Hence, they all keep rifles nearby.
Bobo is the embodiment of innocence as she moves about the world observing the disturbing events that occur around her. She asks her mother if the family is racist. Bobo doesn’t really understand what that might mean but she comes across as pretty intelligent for her age. Through a few flashbacks, we learn that Bobo has already experienced a sense of loss in her life. In fact, she seems to be absorbing a wide range of people’s viewpoints about everything from the war (which is also shown in news clips) to perspectives on religion. Yet, she also demonstrated moments of pure childhood innocence as she plays with the family’s many pets and indulges in a dance or two.
Perhaps most astonishing is how she watches her mother become increasingly unhinged, especially as the family farm is being threatened. Davidtz directs her own performance as Nicola to some powerfully emotional moments. At the same time Venter, as Bobo, never misses a beat in capturing her character’s rising maturity. There’s a particularly strong scene when Bobo encounters a poor African family while out on her motorbike. They ask her to join them for a meal. Bobo is reluctant, knowing that she could be in some danger, but because Bobo is open-minded she cautiously straddles the line and accepts. It’s a tense scene in which our own prejudices might feed that sense of uneasiness.
As expected, the family lives side by side with animal inhabitants including dogs, horses, snakes, and birds. Granted, this is a farm, but Davidtz’s camera zeros in on them. The connections between humans and the animals are mostly very harmonious suggesting that perhaps the whites who colonized the country may have missed the boat on how to live together without such severe divisions of power.
Ultimately this is Bobo’s story though as she, perhaps unconsciously, attempts to understand her own identity and place among the divisions and diversity around her. While the film is based on Fuller’s memoir, Davidtz has also stated that the story resonated with her as her own family experienced the “casual acts of racial violence occurring around me daily.” She is asking for us to consider here: What happens to a child who is surrounded by violence and prejudice? How is racism passed down generationally? How does the fight for land ownership distort people’s world view? Who wins?
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight opens in limited theaters July 17th.