The Kitchen Toto

A houseboy befriends his white master's son in 1950s Kenya while marauding rebels plan murder and mayhem.

The brilliance of this movie is how it manages to tell a story involving children whose innocence and purity will be compromised by the imploding colonial world, white colonialists living a comfortable yet deluded life by exploiting native Kenyans, and murderous rebels whose raging savagery will not spare innocent lives.

Poignant, deep, unflinching, well-acted, perfectly photographed, this is a minor masterpiece not to be easily forgotten. Its story may be a footnote yet it presents the elements that fueled African rebellion and shaped the future politics of sub-Saharan nations. A must see.