Review #1000: Mister Johnson (1990)

Title: Mister Johnson
Year: 1990
Director: Bruce Beresford
Country: US/Nigeria
Language: English

Mister Johnson is the first picture Director Bruce Beresford made after his critically acclaimed Driving Miss Daisy (1989). The film is adapted from the acclaimed 1939 novel by the British author Joyce Cary, who had served in Africa during and after the First World War. Prior to his directing career in Australia, Beresford had spent two years in the mid-1960s as an editor in the Nigerian Film Unit, so he was very familiar with the shooting location. Like his previous picture, this one also deals with race relations, perhaps in a far more serious way.

In 1923 British Colonial Nigeria, Mister Johnson is an oddity -- an educated black man who doesn't really fit in with the natives or the British. He is always scheming, trying to get ahead, which lands him in a lot of hot water.

Mister Johnson is a picture that is very familiar to me, even though I have never stepped foot in West Africa. It reminds me of Jules Dassin's Night and the City. Similar to Mister Johnson, the main character, Harry Fabian, searches for a life of "ease and plenty", but does so in entirely the wrong location. The tragic character arc, as well as Johnson's friendship with Harry Rudbeck (Pierce Brosnan), reminds me of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. 

Much of Mister Johnson's downfall is due to his devotion to his colonial master, Harry Rudbeck. They are at odds; Johnson desires to bend the rules of colonialism to make the maximum amount of profit, whereas Rudbeck is rigid and far more subservient to the status quo. Despite being complicit in some of Johnson's schemes, which tend to always benefit Rudbeck, the man avoids responsibility & treats his friend as if he were dispensable. The cultural clash is as dramatic as it is memorable; both actors play their parts very well. 

Poor Mister Johnson is willing to play by the Englishman's rules, even if they don't see him as one of them. His delusions and desires make for a rather interesting character. I found this film a remarkable feature that I will certainly re-visit many times throughout my lifetime.