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Historical events often look different through the eyes of children, who learn from their parents while also witnessing the things taking place around them. And in the historical drama Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight a precocious little girl experiences a key moment in African history.
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight explores life on a farm in Zimbabwe in 1980, toward the end of the Rhodesian Bush War, as seen through the eyes of eight-year-old Bobo (Lexi Venter). With her father (Rob van Vuuren) often away from home with the military, and her mother (Embeth Davidtz) caught up in protecting her land and her beloved animals more than her children, Bobo often wanders off alone, smoking cigarettes and visiting Sarah (Zikhona Bali), who acts as a stand-in mother, despite being one of the Africans that Bobo has been taught not to trust.
In this time of social and political unrest, Bobo is told to assume that any Africans are potential terrorists. She’s afraid to get up to use the bathroom at night because they could be lurking in the dark. She keeps watch as they travel through the countryside, waiting for an ambush. And it’s no wonder that she lives in fear; she helps her dad load his weapons before he leaves on patrol, and her mother sleeps curled up around a loaded gun. Yet perhaps her closest relationship is with Sarah—the only person who cares enough to watch out for her and correct her when she steps out of line.
Bobo’s story is a difficult one to watch. It’s a story of racism and paranoia—of Bobo’s selfish parents and their drunken, obnoxious friends, who believe that they’re invincible until it turns out that they’re not. In her own childish way, Bobo filters through the things she hears from the people around her and the things she sees on TV, trying to understand what it all means and where she and her family fit. She’s wide-eyed and outspoken, asking questions that no one wants to answer. And while this little girl’s perspective sometimes makes things a little hazy and not always easy to piece together, it’s also a fascinating way to experience the story.
Though it isn’t always an easy film to watch, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is also challenging and captivating, with powerful performances that help to tell a tale of a little girl’s life in wartime.
You can experience life through Bobo’s eyes when Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight arrives in select theaters on July 18, 2025.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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