Wah-Wah Reviews - At The Movies
SYNOPSIS: A semi-autobiographical story of writer/director Richard E. Grant, told through the eyes of young Ralph Comptom. Set during the last gasp of the British Empire in Swaziland, South East Africa, in 1969, the plot focuses on the dysfunctional Compton family whose gradual disintegration mirrors the end of British rule.
Margaret: David:
Wah Wah
Review by Margaret Pomeranz
The actor Richard E. Grant, who established himself indelibly on our cinema psyches as Withnail in Bruce Robinson’s 1987 ode to the end of the 60’s and who since has made nearly 50 films on both sides of the Atlantic, has finally taken the helm as director with a remarkably autobiographical film about his traumatic childhood in Swaziland.
It’s Wah-Wah. Witnessing the infidelity of his mother, (MIRANDA RICHARDSON), at a very young age and the subsequent divorce of his parents and decline of his father, (GABRIEL BYRNE), young Ralph, (NICHOLAS HOUST), returns home from boarding school to find his father with a new wife Ruby, (EMILY WATSON).
The film is set in 1969 in the lead-up to Swaziland’s independence from Britain. It was the end of his father’s career as a top public servant in that country and a reason to put on a show for visiting royalty.
The impact of this film lies in its veracity in telling the story of the early life of Richard E. Grant. The names may have been changed but the film is in fact based on diaries that Grant kept from a very early age.
It is at the same time confrontational and enormously compassionate towards a father who was a Jekyll and Hyde character. Loving by day when sober, a maniac at night after a whisky or ten.
The lives of the colonial hierarchy are depicted and mocked, wah-wah is how Ruby described the British pretensions but the country is dealt with, with enormous affection.
This must have been a very confronting experience for both Grant and his cast, who are actually very strong. It’s strength does come from the truth in it, quite confronting for an audience.
Further comments
MARGARET: David.
DAVID: I think this is a very strong debut film for a first film as a new director.
MARGARET : He’s obviously been watching closely.
DAVID: He’s worked with some interesting people over the years, so I’m sure he has. It is a good story. It is traditionally told, but it is very well told. It is very well acted. I think Gabriel Byrne is getting better and better as he gets older.
MARGARET: Yes.
DAVID: I like very much the depiction of this really foolish society which is about to collapse as colonialism grinds to an end.
MARGARET: But, I mean, to me there’s a veracity in that, too, because I was in India with very, very similar people, full of these stupid pretensions.
DAVID: I mean, it makes you quail to think that there really were people like that.
MARGARET: Yes, carving up Africa - hello. It’s a bit scary.
DAVID: So there’s a decided edge to this film, especially in the way he deals with his parents and how traumatic it must have been for him as a young man.
MARGARET: He’s written this book, THE WAH WAH DIARIES, you know, he’s an amazing diarist, you know, recording everything that ever happened to him, and I mean he had enormously horrible experiences with his French producer, and just getting this film up, you know, of getting the money and the cast. It was so interesting. He couldn’t get an American actress to play. No-one would go with him. And so I think Emily Watson does fine as an American.
DAVID: Yes I think she does. I think they’re all very good. Look, I really liked the film.
MARGARET: I was trying to get in first.
Production details
Release date: 22/06/2006
Release details: Limited National Release. Check daily newspapers for screening details.
Classification: M
Duration: 97 mins
Genre: Drama
Director: Richard E. Grant
Lead actor: Gabriel Byrne
Cast: Emily Watson, Julie Walters, Nicholas Hoult and Miranda Richardson
Producer: Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar and Pierre Kubel
Screenplay: Richard E. Grant
Distributor: Hopscotch
Language: English
Country: South Africa**************************************************************************
**************************************************************************Your reviews:
Name: Barbara
Postcode: NSW
Visit Time: 21:08:02 22 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: I loved this film. Having lived in South Africa during the period in which this film is set, it really reinforced to me how badly treated the African people were by the “bourgeoisie” - a Dr. has to wear white face to appear in the play, despite having a wonderful singing voice and being clearly better educated than the majority of the English who were so demeaning to him. The pain of the young boy was palpable as was the shocking admission by the father on his death bed. Very well drawn, rich characters and beautifully filmed. This film is why I go to the movies!
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**************************************************************************Name: Heather
Postcode: ACT
Visit Time: 16:14:38 26 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: Very enjoyable. Good story and great acting. The only thing I missed was a feel for the culture & country, but perhaps that was missing from their lives at the time.
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**************************************************************************Name: John N.
Postcode: Victoria
Visit Time: 20:46:01 24 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: This is a superb film about family and the ties that bind regardless of …(the list goes on). The cast is remarkable. I agree with the above comments about Grant’s excellent direction. A few landscape shots of Swaziland reminds of the beauty of the African continent. Simply, a rewarding cinema experience.
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**************************************************************************Name: Julie
Postcode: NSW
Visit Time: 21:10:42 23 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: Wah-Wah was excellent. Well acted by everyone. Gabriel Byrne was a standout. Well worth seeing.
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**************************************************************************Name: lynn
Postcode: NSW
Visit Time: 01:11:35 25 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: Just saw the film tonight and was enthralled. I lived in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) prior to independence and also in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana)in my chidhood. I recall my mother telling me about affairs due to boredom and I recall some people’s paternalistic attitudes towards the ’servants’ and so on. The wonderful portrayal of the dignity and humour of the Africans - how they must have giggled amongst themselves at times! To my mind, this film captured the pure essence of British colonial occupation - the ridiculous way trivialities were taken so seriously, e.g. the histrionics of the director trying to put on a theatrical production - yet the Richard Grant also conveyed the affection he had for the country and the humorous characterizaton of the colonials.
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**************************************************************************Name: Mari
Postcode: Queensland
Visit Time: 20:02:45 25 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: I have been interested in Richard E. Grant as an actor since seeing him in Jack and Sarah. He brought a sensitivity to his role not many actors are capable of. Hearing that his directorial debut was finally to be released here, I was eager to see it, especially since Emily Watson, Gabrielle Byrne, Julie Walters AND Miranda Richardson all make an appearance. Watson is delightful as the effervescent Ruby. This movie alternately had me laughing, cringing, or on the edge of tears. It is starkly honest and graciously sensitive at the same time. “Wah Wah” as an expression sums up perfectly the most annoying characteristics of colonial Britain. We watch a family breaking apart, at the same moment as an empire is also breaking apart. The juxtaposition of these events raises questions.
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**************************************************************************Name: Michelle
Postcode: Victoria
Visit Time: 19:26:56 25 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: It was a beautiful and touching film. It was something is really quite close to home for Richard. E. Grant, and as an audience you can really feel it. Thoroughably enjoyable and touching.
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**************************************************************************Name: Paul Martin
Postcode: Victoria
Visit Time: 22:32:14 21 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: Good line-up of actors with good performances and the emotional content is quite good. A bold and mature effort by Richard E. Grant to portray his own dysfunctional childhood. It does give a good perspective of a family in crisis. Not a bad film, but somehow it doesn’t really soar, though some will disagree and understandably shed tears over this one.
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**************************************************************************Name: Wallis West
Postcode: NSW
Visit Time: 07:27:04 23 Jun, 2006 EST
Title: Wah WahRemarks: Yes I really liked the film. Gabriel Byrne is just magnificent in the role of the father.
