A Good Man in Africa

Sean Connery, as a Scottish doctor, is the title character in "A Good Man in Africa," and he's the perfect choice to play the one incorruptible white man in the fictitious African country of Kinjanja.

Unfortunately, he is not the star. Colin Friels, as a sniveling British twit, plays the central character, who may or may not be worthy of the mantle by the end of the film.

In terms of their performances, Friels is passable and Connery is terrific, though there is something rather off-putting about the condescending notion that black Africa needs a white savior.

Friels plays a diplomatic secretary who runs the British office in Kinjanja, though he spends most of his time carousing and womanizing. When his bombastic ambassador (John Lithgow) shows up, he finds himself in the thick of several soap opera subplots but can't find the courage to take a stand regarding any of them.

Meanwhile, Connery acts as a kind of conscience, periodically lecturing Friels and setting an example of incorruptibility.

The film's biggest problem, however, is that every time Connery appears, Friels is blown off the screen — effortlessly, since Connery's is the most relaxed and confident performance in the picture.

This proves to be a major misstep for director Bruce Beresford, who delivers occasional botched efforts ("King David," "Her Alibi") in between his gems ("Tender Mercies," "Driving Miss Daisy"). "A Good Man in Africa" cries out to be an ascerbic satire, but Beresford doesn't quite know how to pull it off, instead vacillating between torpid melodrama and broad slapstick. The director seems to have lost his touch for subtlety here.

There are several plot threads at work. The main one has Lithgow anxious to obtain Kinjanja's oil rights in order to earn himself knighthood, pushing Friels around to make it happen. Meanwhile, Kinjanja's next president (Louis Gossett Jr.) is blackmailing Friels in an effort to get to Connery. Then there is Friels' local lover, who is tired of being hidden away from the rest of the world. Friels, meanwhile, discovers he may have a venereal disease, which puts his two favorite pastimes on hold. If that's not enough, a maid is killed by lightning on the embassy grounds just as Lithgow and Friels are preparing for a royal visit — and the locals refuse to remove the body until a complicated ceremony is performed.

Some of these story elements take on ridiculous extremes when they could be resolved with less convoluted contrivances. Worse, all the women — Joanne Whalley-Kilmer as Gossett's wife, Diana Rigg as Lithgow's wife, Jackie Mofokeng as Friels' mistress and Sarah-Jane Fenton as Lithgow's daughter — are treated as comic sex objects, using their feminine wiles, if you will, to manipulate Friels. This is especially surprising from Beresford, who generally makes movies with three-dimensional female characters ("Crimes of the Heart," "Rich in Love").

There is also an occasional narrative voiceover by Friels, which seems a desperate attempt to tie up loose ends.

The film does have its pleasures but on the whole is quite a disappointment, especially when you consider the talent involved.

"A Good Man in Africa" is rated R for a fair amount of violence, sex, nudity and foul language.