'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight' Review: War and Racism Through the Eyes of a Child

Films depicting the world through the eyes of a child are layered. Sometimes they're full of youthful fanaticism; at others, unbridled terror. Often, they're an uncanny cocktail of both. Works like Come and See, Pan's Labyrinth, Mid90s, Close and The Florida Project all put children at the center of divergent narratives. Entering the ring in 2025 is writer, director and star Embeth Davidtz's (Miss Honey for the whimsical) Telluride Film Festival entry Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, based on Alexandra Fuller's impactful 2001 memoir of the same name. The clunky title is part of a quote from British humorist writer and poet A.P. Herbert: “Don’t let’s go the dogs tonight, for mother will be there.” The film follows the tumultuous childhood of 8-year-old Bobo Fuller as she navigates life on her family farm in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) during the Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Zimbabwean War of Independence, circa 1980.