Country: Mauritius
Directed by Scott Reed
During the 70’s hippie movement in Rhodesia, Basil O’Connell-Jones experiences life after death when he’s shot in the head during the racially energised bush war.
Wosaka is the Chichewa word for ‘hunter’, or ‘seeker’. This documentary feature film recounts the life of Basil O’Connell-Jones, a young thrill-seeker who could never find fulfilment.
Basil grew up in 1960s Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). As a teenager he was drawn into the hippie movement and small-time drug dealing. He then moved to London where he got deeper into drug trafficking, and after several close encounters with the law he returned home to a racially fuelled civil war.
Still looking for thrills, he enlisted in the Rhodesian Light Infantry; one of the most skilled and controversial fighting forces the world had ever seen. During a routine deployment, Basil was shot in the head. Desperate for answers he seeks for the truth knowing that death is a comma, it’s not the end.
Wosaka was shot by a majority African cast and crew over a period of two years in five different countries, with most re-enactments filmed in Zimbabwe itself.
Most of the people who worked on the film were personally affected by the war in one way or another.
Now showing at MCINE
