The Bushbaby(1969) 1st watched 8/24/01 - 6 out of 10(Dir-John Trent): Sweet personable story about a young girl who stayed behind in Africa by accident tending to her pet bushbaby while her father leaves on a boat to London. Good side story with Lou Gossett as a friend who is accussed of kidnapping in the racist-filled South Africa before the local government took over. Much deeper than most kids movies w/ the cute bushbaby just kind of being a attention-getter for the young audience. Quick unsatisfying ending, but also has mesmerizing cinematography of African animal life.
3 Reviews
Sad to say, there's little footage of the adorable title character.
mark.waltz8 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
It's mostly Margaret Brooks as the young owner of a caught bush baby (gallago) in Africa who doesn't want to give it up and go back to England without it. So she goes on the run with the native born African (Lou Gossett Jr.) who gave it to her in the first place, causing her father (Donald Houston) to create a search party for her. Laurence Naismith is her father's friend, a highly irritated older man, suggesting that they kill Gossett to get Brooks away from her.
Coming out in the late 60's during a period where films focusing on friendly wild animals were popular, some more than others, especially after "Born Free" was released. This combines the love of one particular animal with great shots of the wild kingdom in the African wild, and the only real good shot of the gallego is the one where it eats a praying mantis. Not bad, especially for the friendship of Brooks and Gossett, but wished it had focused more on her caring for the adorable primate.
Coming out in the late 60's during a period where films focusing on friendly wild animals were popular, some more than others, especially after "Born Free" was released. This combines the love of one particular animal with great shots of the wild kingdom in the African wild, and the only real good shot of the gallego is the one where it eats a praying mantis. Not bad, especially for the friendship of Brooks and Gossett, but wished it had focused more on her caring for the adorable primate.
Lou Gossett is Amazing! (warning! possible spoilers)
Africanist6 November 2001
Warning: Spoilers
This is an overlooked gem in an overlooked genre, girls' adventure stories. Most films for children seem to be either boys' adventure stories or girls' romances. Rarely are there romance movies for boys or adventure stories for girls, although there do seem to be more and more of the latter being made lately.
I got this film for my daughter because I thought she would like it. I was right, not just because it was an adventure film for girls, but because she had lived in Africa, including Kenya, and she could recognize much in the film that was familiar. It has many of the usual African images (Masai boma, wildlife, etc.) but unlike many films set in Africa it will not make anyone who has actually been to the continent alternately laugh and groan. It also uses Africa as Africa, rather than as just an exotic setting for events and relationships that could have occurred elsewhere.
The main character is a white girl who was born in Kenya, but whose father is taking her back to England with him because Kenya is becoming independent. Her mother had been killed in the Mau Mau uprising, and she doesn't understand why her father insists on leaving. The story revolves around her struggle to return her pet bushbaby (lemur) to the wilderness whence it came.
This is very much a family film, as opposed to a children's film. There is a lot of material for family discussion in this movie, such as what the colonial police officials mean when they smugly insist that they "know the African mentality." It can be used to start discussions about the nature of nationality, the rights of immigrants and those who were born in a country, and other questions of identity and belonging, not to mention racism and colonialism.
The characters are generally nuanced as well. The good-hearted white doctor who saves the girl's life is also a racist who tries to kill her African friend, who also saved her life. This is not a cartoon on film, with clear heros and villains, but rather a believable story about humans caught in a web of misunderstandings. In other words, it's much like real life.
The most amazing aspect of this movie to me was the acting by Lou Gossett, Jr. In this film he still wore that "lean and hungry look" of a struggling actor. I didn't recognize him at first, until I saw his name in the credits. I still find it hard to believe it was an American. Too often an African-American who is cast as an African doesn't realize how Africans behave very differently from African-Americans, and their white director often seems to have trouble telling one black from the next. Not in this film, though! Gossett's performance is so professional I can only say that his Oscar was long overdue. As my daughter put it, amazed to learn that the actor had been an American, "He even got shot like an African!"
I got this film for my daughter because I thought she would like it. I was right, not just because it was an adventure film for girls, but because she had lived in Africa, including Kenya, and she could recognize much in the film that was familiar. It has many of the usual African images (Masai boma, wildlife, etc.) but unlike many films set in Africa it will not make anyone who has actually been to the continent alternately laugh and groan. It also uses Africa as Africa, rather than as just an exotic setting for events and relationships that could have occurred elsewhere.
The main character is a white girl who was born in Kenya, but whose father is taking her back to England with him because Kenya is becoming independent. Her mother had been killed in the Mau Mau uprising, and she doesn't understand why her father insists on leaving. The story revolves around her struggle to return her pet bushbaby (lemur) to the wilderness whence it came.
This is very much a family film, as opposed to a children's film. There is a lot of material for family discussion in this movie, such as what the colonial police officials mean when they smugly insist that they "know the African mentality." It can be used to start discussions about the nature of nationality, the rights of immigrants and those who were born in a country, and other questions of identity and belonging, not to mention racism and colonialism.
The characters are generally nuanced as well. The good-hearted white doctor who saves the girl's life is also a racist who tries to kill her African friend, who also saved her life. This is not a cartoon on film, with clear heros and villains, but rather a believable story about humans caught in a web of misunderstandings. In other words, it's much like real life.
The most amazing aspect of this movie to me was the acting by Lou Gossett, Jr. In this film he still wore that "lean and hungry look" of a struggling actor. I didn't recognize him at first, until I saw his name in the credits. I still find it hard to believe it was an American. Too often an African-American who is cast as an African doesn't realize how Africans behave very differently from African-Americans, and their white director often seems to have trouble telling one black from the next. Not in this film, though! Gossett's performance is so professional I can only say that his Oscar was long overdue. As my daughter put it, amazed to learn that the actor had been an American, "He even got shot like an African!"
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