Lost In The Desert (1969) is a film no child will ever forget.
Directed, Written and Starring Jamie Uys.
What a great kid adventure movie. This movie will forever be embedded in any child's mind that watches it. Jamie also directed The God's Must Be Crazy, which is another great movie that no adult that watches it will ever forget. Anyways, the star of this film is Jamie's real life son, Wynand who mesmerizes with his desert scenes. As an actor it's hard to do scenes with children and animals, because they are always so natural in their behaviors, emotions and physicality. Compare the scenes with Wynand and his dog and the Hyena in the sprawling desert to the adults scenes and you will clearly see how wooden the adults are in comparison to Wynand and his dog and the ever looming Hyena. A special mention goes out to the cinematography that gives the film its ever present ominous background of the Kalahari Desert. Also of note is the way Jamie uses Chopin and other classical scores during the desert scenes.
Such a beautiful, moving, heartfelt scene. Watch first the dog react to Jamie's voice through the cockpit radio. You can see the dog is at first taken aback, then you see the dog recognize Jamie, then the dog frantically goes to alert Wynand. Then watch the full range of emotions as Wynand gets to speak to his dad Jamie for the first time since the crash. I love the way Jamie edited the dialogue between him and his son Wynand to bring out the full range of emotions. As an audience member it brought relief and delight that Wynand would get help. For me doing things the simplest, most straightforward way is always the best.
Trivia - The director and his real life son play the two lead characters in the film.
Note - If you would like to view Dirkie - Lost In The Desert to rent or buy please click on the link below the comments. It is sponsored by Google, so it is the safest and most secure way to get a copy for your film library.
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