Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight

Synopsis

A young white girl, Bobo, grows up on a farm outside Harara with her family with the Rhodesian Bush War as a background. In addition to the war, the family lives with the shadow of the death of the youngest daughter, who died in an accident drowning in a pond.
As the first free elections in Zimbabwe looms, the white Rhodesians drinks excessively and hope the moderate Bishop Muzorewa will win.
At the farm Bobo is closer to the black servant Sarah than any of her family and while they can not pass the thresholds to each other’s worlds, their affection for each is genuine, however Sarah is attacked by her people for it, and is close to death.
When Mugabe wins the election, the family realises their time is up and sells the farm to move to Zambia and Sarah goes back to her village.

Impression

I was reluctant to go watch this film, since I enjoyed the book so much when I read it several years ago. However the film manages to capture the mood of book from the innocent and naive perspective of Bobo perfectly even though it does not seem totally faithful to the source material. (It’s hard to say whether this is because I have forgotten bits of the book, the author Alexandra Fuller choose to include a different perspective or simply artistic choices by the director/script writer).
The relationship between Bobo and Sarah was touching. Bobo, as the one indirectly responsible for her sister’s death, seems to carry the weight of the whole family, desperate to feel loved and ends up finding it with servant who ends up paying the price for it.