Movie Review: Wah-Wah

Wah-Wah is an entertaining, moving autobiographical account of Richard E Grant's (who wrote and directed) childhood growing up in Swaliland at the end of the '60s when British colonial rule was coming to an end and Swaliland was moving to independence. The story begins with Richard (Nicholas Hoult) pretending to be asleep in the back seat of his mother, Lauren's (Miranda Richardson) car while she commits adultery. This, as one would expect, has an incredible impact on Richard, made worse by his mother's decision to leave his dad. She walks into Richard's room, says she loves him and that she is leaving. We follow Richard as he tries to make sense of what is happening to him. Richard is sent to boarding school and, on his return a couple of years later, his father has impulsively married an American, Ruby (Emily Watson) who provides Richard with emotional support as they deal with his father's alcoholism. Ruby sarcastically pokes fun at the childish upper-class slang of "toodle-pips" and "hobbly-jobblys" which she describes as a whole lot of "wah-wah". Wah-Wah is engaging from beginning to end with a superb mix of drama, provided by the anguish and pain experienced by Richard and humour, supplied by the wonderful caricatures of British pretensiousness as the people mourn the disintegration of British rule, and beautiful African scenery. A superbly cynical and moving coming-of-age film! My Rating: **** (out of 5) Positive Review 'Both acidly funny and very moving.' - Kevin Crust/Los Angeles Times Negative Review 'The story lacks focus. The senses blur as wives and ex-wives come and go, and Harry regularly falls off the wagon, only to reform the next day.' - V A Musetto/New York Post Content Warning Some language and brief sexuality