A documentary about Africa’s last absolute monarchy, the Kingdom of Swaziland, Without the King offers up a piercing snapshot of a distant ruler out of touch with his country — something which seems strangely timely. King Mswati III, who came to power as a teenager in 1986, rules by decree and lives a life of luxury with a dozen wives while his subjects suffer from crushing poverty, the world’s highest HIV infection rate and an average life expectancy of 31 years. Built around interviews with Mswati and his family, as well as many Swazi citizens plotting his downfall, this fascinating movie captures an agitated pre-revolutionary state, just before everything comes to a boil.



Eschewing voiceover narration and directed with a loose touch, Michael Skolnik’s film boasts extraordinary access to Mswati who, like President Bush, seems genuinely personable and perfectly willing to receive air-quote counsel, as long as it’s from those who agree with him. If there’s not much substantive plumbing of Mswati’s thought process in his bizarre decision to enact a piecemeal constitution that still bans political parties, Skolnik wisely locates a true emotional arc in the form of Mswati’s eldest child — an articulate, candid 17-year-old rap fan who comes to California for Christian boarding school. Princess Sikhanyiso is part of the future of Swaziland, and her subdued realizations about the contrast between her impoverished country and her lavish lifestyle give this already engaging movie a casually ominous subtext. (First Run/Red Envelope, unrated, 84 minutes)