Wah-Wah 2005

     This film is based on true events from the childhood of actor and author Richard E. Grant.  The setting is Swaziland at the end of the 1960’s and the country is about to receive independence from Great Britain.  Ralph Compton is twelve years old and he has a difficult time accepting the separation and divorce of his parents.  His father works as the minister of education and he has a drinking habit.  He misses his mother very much and he decides he would rather go to boarding school than live with his father.  When he returns home at the age of fourteen, his father has remarried and his mother has come to visit him.

     Ralph went through a lot in his childhood.  He worked with puppets and he was able to express his emotions through them.  He gave shows with them and he also worked with them as a release for his tensions and emotions.  He seemed not to have many choices and going to boarding school was one choice he could make for himself.  There was some isolation also because the British people gathered together as a group and didn’t mingle with other people.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

120 min, Drama directed by Richard E. Grant with Gabriel Byrne, Nicholas Hoult, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Charles Bingham, June Broughton, John Matshikiza, Sid Mitchell.

Note:  Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 53% critic 63% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in Swaziland and it was the first movie to be filmed in this country.