February 18, 2024

"Howard" (Dirk Bogarde) arrives in colonial East Africa just as the Mau-Mau rebellion is gathering pace. His farm is adjacent to that of the "Crawford" family - Basil Sydney, Marie Ney and daughter "Mary" (Virginia McKenna) and fairly swiftly, their community starts to more fully appreciate the increasing dangers they face. As the native population become more audacious with their activities many want to flee, many want to try harder to work and … read the rest.

"Howard" (Dirk Bogarde) arrives in colonial East Africa just as the Mau-Mau rebellion is gathering pace. His farm is adjacent to that of the "Crawford" family - Basil Sydney, Marie Ney and daughter "Mary" (Virginia McKenna) and fairly swiftly, their community starts to more fully appreciate the increasing dangers they face. As the native population become more audacious with their activities many want to flee, many want to try harder to work and share with their dispossessed African neighbours whilst others want to use the full force of "Insp. Drummond" (Donald Sinden) and his thinly spread police force. Stuck squarely in the middle of this scenario is the doctor "Karanja" (Earl Cameron). A man who has studied hard for six years and who wants, above all, to avoid murderous conflict. When a man is critically injured by the insurgents, "Karanja" is suspected of expediting his death before he can talk and with trust in short supply, this pot really begins to boil. It's a story that illustrates the best and worst of British administration and attitudes contrasted with a determination amongst the local people to reclaim their homeland - brutally and ruthlessly if needs be, and though the political detail is a little scant, it's not a bad attempt at showing the writing on the wall for empire. Save for quite a poignant effort from Cameron, none of the other acting here is up to much, nor is the writing, but the external cinematography (and the audio) are impressive and the story - though copping out slightly at the end - works quite well. Such films never date well, the language and superiority complex of the colonists can be quite hard to stomach nowadays, but it's still worth a watch.

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