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Intelligent, sensitively-handled drama (based on Joyce Carey's novel) is set inWest Africa during the days of Britain's empire-building. It features a standoutperformance by Maynard Eziashi in the title role as an Nigerian clerk working for the British government in the village of Fada. Johnson's eagerness to be accepted as an English gentleman by his country's new landlords is a phenomenon observable in several colonized provinces throughout history. It's also the kind ofcompromise that can only lead to misunderstanding from both cultures. The irrepr

essible, entrepreneurial Johnson is a dreamer, who thinks big enough not only tosee himself as a rich, respectable businessman, but also to embrace the ambition of his district officer (Pierce Brosnan) to build a 100-mile road. The completion of the road, which will make the Empire's `civilizing' processes even easier,tells us that the end of the village's (and Africa's) innocence is nigh. It's the kind of imperialism that we instinctively blame for Johnson's downfall - but looking back we can see that the real villain of the film is commerce. Every scrape that Johnson gets into is less a result of cultural clash than simple mismanagement of money, and it's not only the British that he gets into trouble with. The opportunistic, ingenuous Johnson is just the type we would expect to fall foul of the law, whether native or British, as a matter of course.

Beresford seems to be drawn to assignments set in desolate landscapes, and here

he convincingly transports us to the 1923 colonies. As would be expected, he gets solid performances from Eziashi, Brosnan (whose repressed character demands hebe underplayed), and Edward Woodward as a local store owner (more memorable here than in Beresford's BREAKER MORANT). There are several scenes you'll react toon an emotional level - the quietly triumphant completion of the road and the unforgettable final scene are the two most notable examples. The dusky photographyby Peter James suits the film perfectly. Definitely worth your time - critics applauded it even though it sank without a trace at the box office. If it wasn'tfor the success of his previous film, DRIVING MISS DAISY, Beresford may never have been able to convince backers to produce a film featuring an unknown black actor in the lead role. Incidentally, this must be the only film I've seen set inan African village that doesn't wind up with someone's house burning down.

British East Africa, 1923. Harry Rudbeck, an ambitious army officer, wants to build a road to bring the outside world to the backwater town where he is posted.Struggling to find ways around Foreign Service bureaucracy, he relies on his resourceful African clerk, Mr. Johnson. But when Johnson's can-do attitude runs afoul of British law, Rudbeck must make a painful decision. The film is deliberately paced, and the topnotch cinematography, art direction, and soundtrack all conspire to immerse you into the sweltering heat of East Africa. Maynard Eziashi gives winning performance as Johnson, a man so intent on becoming important that itdestroys him. Like many of director Bruce Beresford's movies, this is a clear-e

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yed look at the way a collision of two cultures can lead to tragedy. Rudbeck must ultimately face the fact that his own ambition leads to the death of his friend, and Pierce Brosnan (as Rudbeck) and Beresford refuse to sentimentalize the man at all. Among Beresford's films, this is much closer in tone to Breaker Morantthan to the kinder, gentler Driving Miss Daisy.

ReviewBeresford's adaptation of Joyce Cary's novel is an intriguingly problematic taleof a well educated black man (Eziashi) working for a white magistrate British Colonial Nigeria. Aspiring to be treated as an equal of the white British aroundhim, he is neither accepted by them or his fellow natives. His desire to get ahe

ad leads him into trouble. As a character study, the film works well, and thereis a well observed sense of time and place. But issues of race and racism here are as vague as they were in Driving Miss Daisy, and you are left with the impression Beresford is happy to dodge the issues he dabbles with.

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