This colonial tale of the Twenties finds director Bruce Beresford on sound ground. His central character is Johnson, a native wheeler dealer engagingly played (but not overdone) by stocky Nigerian actor Maynard Eziashi. Johnson wears a suit, tie and solar topi, thinks of himself as English and works for the district officer (Pierce Brosnan). Johnson's trouble is that, besides the deals and personal cuts that find their way into his pocket, he is not above a little embezzlement (and eventually theft). It's these incursions across the thin line between chicanery and crime that eventually prove this likeable, always-in-debt rascal's undoing. Not, however, before he has helped with the seemingly impossible task of building a road that will connect his little outpost with the main highway and civilisation. Beresford establishes period and atmosphere immaculately, though his pacing is a shade too deliberate, if in keeping with the stumbling qualities of the natives' pidgin English. A nicely-made film that rewards the patient viewer.

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