Joel Phiri Movies

An aging hotel chef travels to the half-buried desert town of Fairlands to attend the funeral of her only daughter, only to meet the grandson she never knew she had in director Threes Anna's semi-surreal drama. It's been years since Melody has returned to Fairlands, and in the years since her last visit the town has been almost entirely buried by red sands carried on sweeping winds. Even the once-prosperous Paradise Hotel has nearly been swallowed up by the encroaching desert -- the lettering of its large sign just barely peering out over miles of nothingness. Nearly everyone Melody had ever known in Fairlands has since passed away, and now the only people left in this dying town are the families of the few remaining prospectors who scour local diamond mines in search of jewels that will put food on the table. In the streets, a roving gang of feral children led by the charismatic River move forward with plans to create a small army that will rule the territory on the backs of tamed ostriches. When Melody learns that River is her long lost grandson and that his father Scoop doesn't seem bothered by the boy's eccentric behavior, her attempts to win the boy's favor by baking a pie made with ostrich eggs immediately backfires. Later, after discovering that Scoop had intercepted all of Melody's letters to her daughter June in addition to ensuring that none of June's letters reached their intended destination, the enraged mother confronts the unrepentant swindler as a sandstorm descends upon the town and River's gang launches a violent attack on Scoop's house. Subsequently setting out into the blinding winds in search of her missing grandchild, Melody eventually finds River before the pair is sent tumbling into the sand-swept hotel. It is here, in the belly of this strange underworld formerly known as the Paradise Hotel, that the memories of the past will drive Melody and River to confront their painful history in an effort to finally understand the profound effect that June's death has had on both of their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Actor and author Richard E. Grant made his directorial debut with this period comedy drama inspired by his own experiences growing up in colonial Africa in the sixties. Ralph Compton (Zachary Fox) is the 11-year old son of Harry (Gabriel Byrne), the minister of education in the British-controlled African nation of Swaziland. While Harry is a likeable and well-connected man, his marriage to Lauren (Miranda Richardson) is on shaky ground, and when he learns she's been having an affair with one of his best friends, she leaves him and he begins drinking heavily. Harry sends Ralph to boarding school when things start to get unpleasant, and after two years he returns home to discover that some changes have been made. Ralph (now played by Nicholas Hoult) finds that his father is still drinking, but seems a more relaxed and better adjusted man -- and has just remarried, having tied the knot with Ruby (Emily Watson), a former stewardess from America. Ralph naturally resists Ruby's presence in the house, but the two become close, as Ruby indicates that she understands Ralph better than anyone else (and he senses the same). Meanwhile, the British start to withdraw from Swaziland. Wah-Wah received its world premiere at the 2005 Edinburgh Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Two modern Zimbabwean women reminisce about their time as freedom fighters twenty years before. The story of Florence and Nyasha is told via flashback. It begins in Mozambique where the women have come to train as soldiers. At first the men reject their presence, making it plain that the two are second class citizens. One day though, Florence and Nyahsa who take on the names 'Flame' and 'Liberty' respectively are called to fight. They prove themselves courageous and determined. Flame is pregnant and loses her baby during a Rhodesian air strike, but this does not stop her. Eventually the story returns to the present where the two friends attend a reunion on Hero's Day. It is there that they realize that most of the freedom fighters, especially the women have been basically forgotten. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Racial conflicts provide the impetus for this heavy, socially conscious British drama. The film begins in North Carolina, 1652, as an Ibo family calmly walks into the sea to drown themselves. To them death was preferable to slavery. The film quickly shoots into a future time, not too distant from our own, where the incarnated family lives in the Terrordome, a rundown ghetto neighborhood. There viciously racist Anglo policemen continually spar with drug-dealing gangs. Spike, a black gangster, is in love with a white woman. She's pregnant and ends up having an abortion after her former boyfriend beats her. Black Rad gets revenge by taking over a TV station after his wife, one of Spike's relations, is killed by police. She had rampaging around with a gun. On TV, Black Rad reads his propaganda. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi