Quotes of the Day
Two fictional characters fared spectacularly well amid the uncertainty that followed 9/11. One was Harry Potter, whose adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland provided an exhilarating escape for millions of children, and not a few parents. The other was Precious Ramotswe, whose everyday adventures as boss of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana provided a reassuring escape for millions of adults, and not a few children. Sales of both novel series soared into the tens of millions, making Edinburgh, where J.K. Rowling and Alexander McCall Smith both write, a cradle of superstar authors.
But the parallels, it seemed, ended there: Harry Potter became a multi-billion-dollar movie franchise, while Precious Ramotswe is only now finding her way to the more modest medium of television. Yet, whether in books or on screen, she's not to be underestimated. In the U.K., the bbc will air a two-hour film version of the novel this month, along with a 13-part follow-on series, both of which will also be shown on HBO in the U.S. The high-wattage team behind the production is betting that Precious can help to recast the world's view of Africa.
The problem in bringing Precious to film was certainly not a lack of A-list interest. Director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Cold Mountain) and producer Sydney Pollack, both Oscar winners, optioned The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in January 2001. Minghella co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar nominee Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill). And Hollywood heavy hitter Harvey Weinstein signed on as the distributor.
But the project was clearly a challenge. For one thing, Minghella would have to confront the question that dogs any filmmaker on the continent: What is the real Africa? Is it the sunsets and savannahs of Out of Africa (which won Pollack his director's Oscar)? Is it the chaos and savagery of Hotel Rwanda, Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond? Or is it the white man's shame of Cry Freedom and The Constant Gardener? Minghella knew that No. 1 Ladies' demanded a fresh approach.
McCall Smith, a polymathic professor of medical law at Edinburgh University with more than 60 books to his name, originally wrote his African stories in his spare time as Christmas gifts for friends. Born in Zimbabwe, he portrays Africa not as a cauldron of war, disease and children with flies in their eyes, but as a proud, tranquil and hopeful place, where people lead full, ordinary lives and savor redbush tea amid rising prosperity. Often they manage all this without ever meeting a white man. "The books don't ask, 'What's wrong with Africa? What can we fix?'" says Minghella. "They're about what we can learn from Africa, not what we can teach it."
At the center of this other Africa is Precious, "traditionally built," beautiful, independent and wise — the incarnation of a self-assured continent. But Minghella couldn't find her. "Over eight months, I went three times around a lap of England, the U.S. and Africa looking for an actor to play Precious," he says. "We workshopped it with eight or nine people, some very big stars. I basically gave up." Finally, while trawling YouTube two months before shooting was due to start, Minghella came across a poetry performance by Grammy Award–winning R&B singer Jill Scott, and "saw something in her."
Precious Hope
In the real Botswana, Minghella already had a good approximation of McCall Smith's red-dust Eden. This country of 1.8 million is one of Africa's success stories. Since independence in 1966, it has maintained a robust growth rate, and per-capita gdp reached a comparatively healthy $11,000 in 2006. Botswana's diamond wealth has fomented no coups or conflict, and the last assassination was in the 1960s when a tribal chief's brother shot his older sibling. Population growth is under control, and the country's schools, and its green tourism in the Okavango Delta, are the envy of the continent. While Botswana has one of the world's highest HIV/AIDS rates — an estimated 25% of adults between 15 and 49 are infected — it also has an unusually progressive program to deal with the disease. The contrast with neighboring Zimbabwe could not be more stark, as hundreds of thousands of refugees can attest.
Still, the Botswana of Precious Ramotswe is idealized. At the beginning of the film, Precious calls the country "the finest place on God's earth." AIDS is never referred to by name; a character in the movie merely remarks that there are "so many funerals these days in Botswana from these bad diseases." Precious also romanticizes traditional Africa. In the book, McCall Smith writes: "Mma Ramotswe did not want her Africa to change, to become like everybody else, soulless, selfish ... " In the film, she lets her secretary install a phone only with great reluctance, while villains relish modern monstrosities like satellite dishes and Bluetooth headsets. The movie glows with screenwriter Curtis' signature rosy touch. Voodoo gangsters are fallible rakes, nobody dies young, and love triumphs in the end.
"I've worked for 20 years on TV programs that fund raise for Africa," says Curtis, a prime mover behind Comic Relief and Live 8. "And always, because we're trying to move people into giving money, we've had to concentrate on some of the harshest things. [This film] was a chance to show the other side of things — that people in Africa, when asked if they are happy, are more likely to answer yes than people in Europe or the U.S. I also believe that if people can really believe in the rich, normal life of people in Africa, we won't be happy to have millions die there."
It's with an eye on shifting perceptions that one of the more heavyweight teams in cinema has opted for a TV movie. "We need to reach the largest audience," explains co-producer Tim Bricknell, "and many more people watch TV." Another co-producer, Amy Moore, says the kind of exposure they're expecting may well make Scott "the face of Botswana" — even though she's from Philadelphia. Indeed, so confident is Botswana's government in the movie's benevolent aura that it is covering a third of the $15 million budget, will build tourism campaigns around the project and hopes to use it to kick-start its own film industry.
So is The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency a realistic vision of Africa or just a beautiful fantasy? Cast and crew have certainly taken pains to ensure that the feel of it is richly authentic. The set replicates real buildings found by production designer Johnny Breedt on a three-week drive across the country. Several prominent citizens appear in the film: the village priest, for instance, is played by the Bishop of Botswana. And Scott and Anika Noni Rose, who plays Precious' petulant secretary, immersed themselves in the culture, attending weddings and funerals, and mastering the Setswana accent with the help of a dialect coach. Interviewed on set, Scott muses, "All that American stuff we have on us, it's started falling off. I don't know if I really want to rush back to the States after all this is over. I don't know if I'll fit."
In some ways, the world that Minghella and his crew have been at pains to create seems so realistic that it has even confused the locals. When Breedt built a cardboard set of an African mall, people showed up to buy groceries. Likewise, the shooting of the funeral of Precious' father was interrupted by passersby stopping to pay their respects. The ultimate test came on the seventh week of the shoot, when Botswana's President Festus Mogae paid a visit. It was a surreal moment: the nation's leader being shown around a fictionalized version of his country by an American playing a character whom they both hoped would become the face of the real Botswana. But Mogae told Time that he felt at home. "There is an element of romanticizing reality," he says. "But this is not fiction. We are used to our women talking and discussing and being wise. And we are a very gentle and peaceful people." He adds: "We want this film to be seen all over the world. The more people see it, the more they will know about us, too, and the more businessmen and tourists will come to see and join in our African life." Even presidents, it seems, believe in the magic of movies.
- ALEX PERRY/GABORONE
- A film version of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency goes to great lengths to portray Africa in a happy light