I've passed this one on the shelf a dozen times and happened to pick it up as my wife doesn't like dark comedy, shoot'em-ups or slap-stick. I knew it was a winner just seeing Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson and Emily Watson. But, the story was excellent, young Nicholas Hoult was outstanding with the support of such talent like Julia Waters, Celia Imrie. Writer/Director Richard E. Grant has captured the petty intrigues and back-biting found in the British ex-pat colonial service of the 60s, along with the trysts, scandals and class distinction. The setting and depiction of the African scenes are breathtaking, albeit the focus is on the Brits in the process of returning this country to the Swazi. All in all, a great story, rife with human interest, fraught with human frailties and painted on a touching but not maudlin canvas and well worth watching.

I love this film! I've been a fan of Richard E Grant for a long time, and this film is just the cream on the cake. :) He is a great writer and director (and of course, a fantastic actor) and I love the way he introduces Swaziland to us. The actors are perfect for the roles. The soundtrack is also fantastic. I was crying and laughing. It really touches your heart. When I first saw it I immediately knew that the film has something to tell. Having a childhood like Richard had is not an easy thing. What I love the most is the way he shows the family connections, pain, and big decisions through the eyes of a child. A great film! I recommend it to anyone.

Such a pity this film is not being shown on general release but apparently only at "art" cinemas. It is one of the most moving films I have ever seen and will stay with me for many years to come. The entire audience in the theatre where I saw this film sat in stunned silence at the end. Seeing the movie was of particular interest to me because I lived for some years in the country in which the film was shot. Seeing the movie brought back so many memories for me - some of the 'extras' were people I knew during my time there. The story, based on Richard E Grant's childhood experiences in a tiny African Kingdom is brilliantly portrayed by a mixed cast of well known and unknown actors. Well done, REG, for telling your story so well!

This is the kind of movie I desperately hope for when I go to the cinema: A great story with great acting - everything else is window dressing. The British withdrawal from Swaziland forms a quite distant backdrop for this family melodrama. Absolute powerhouse performances from Gabriel Byrne (as an alcoholic divorcée) and Emily Watson (as an out of place American) join a watershed performance form the young Nicholas Hoult (from About a Boy), whose transformation from young boy to young man was one of the most compelling and convincing I have ever seen. The plot moves very rapidly through an endless cycle of unhappiness, family breakdown, drunkenness - and yet somehow, in the midst of this relentless pace, we feel for every character, and experience every emotion.This directorial debut goes so many places - staging a musical, many puppet shows, exploring the clash of three cultures, the ugly face of racism, a boy's coming of age - and yet the central narrative of a boy trying to find grounding in the midst of a tumultuous family life is brilliantly conceived, and always at the forefront. The auburn palette of the film is accentuated by over-exposed shots and intimate camera angles; this movie brings a small, insular circle of families to life, and while it makes no pretension to explore African culture (this itself is pointed, since the Brits were so racist), it explores the crisis of the modern family as well as cinema can possibly hope to.The tragic, show stopping revelation at the end concerning Byrne's character demands the whole movie be re-watched; it is an epiphany for Hoult, and it just may leave you thinking for a long time to come: What is the essence of a family? If love isn't enough, what is? There is a scene in the middle of the film where Hoult is transposed with Malclom McDowell's character from A Clockwork Orange. By the end of the movie I had my mind made up: Yes, Wah Wah can indeed stand proudly alongside the great films of cinema history, it's just that good.