Movie Review: War, through one child's extraordinary eyes, in 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight'

Bobo, a white girl growing up on a farm in Africa, has a mop of unruly hair, smudgy cheeks, and a fondness for cigarettes at 8 years old. As portrayed by extraordinary first-time actor Lexi Venter in “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” she also has a face like a broad canvas waiting to be painted, writes Associated Press critic Jocelyn Noveck in her review. The movie, written and directed by Embeth Davidtz based on Alexandra Fuller’s admired memoir, is set in the waning days of white rule in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). Davidtz’s most adept move was telling her tale through Venter, who gives one of the best child performances in recent memory.