obrien-sean Like many others I saw this film as a young child in the early 1970s, in a cinema in suburban Sydney, Australia, at the age of 7. At the time, I really wasn't sure of the origin of what I was watching. Given the South African accents, which sound a bit like Australian accents, I thought it was set in a stranger version of Australia. With African animals. Well, just the creepy African animals like hyenas, as the nicer African animals like elephants and giraffes never make an appearance. This doppelgänger Australia quality only heightened the truly, deeply disturbing nature of the film. Was it possible perhaps that we had hyenas in the Australian desert? And the Kalahari desert men did look like Aboriginals to me, as a child. I distinctly remember the scene where the rock knocks him into the pool and the water becomes bloody. Well, what child could forget that? Time went by and no one I spoke to about this film had the faintest idea what I was talking about - no one else had ever seen it, or heard of it. Which of course made it all the more perplexing. Then a few years later, around 1973, I saw my second freaky desert film. Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout. It had strange echoes of Lost in the Desert. I thought it was perhaps a remake. I could tell Walkabout was definitely set in Australia, and then I wondered if Lost in the Desert had been an Australian film after all. Or maybe it didn't actually exist. Perhaps I had dreamed a simpler version of Walkabout, before I had even seen Walkabout. Walkabout of course was every bit as disturbing as Lost in the Desert for a child. But you know what? Between Lost in the Desert, and Walkabout, I grew to love both cinema, and the desert. And I thank both film directors for creating films about children that spoke to me as a child more strongly than a dozen Disney movies.

pendlebury-1 Strange how some things stick with you for 30 years. I too remember a few things about this movie even though I am now 46. I saw it with my best friend and his mother. I remember Dirky's father dropped flyers from a plane and they read "Dirky, I love you and I will find you" A great movie I would love to see again and show my children. As a young boy I was very embarrassed that I cried in the film when my friends mum was watching. In this day and age of sex and violence it is a touching story of a fathers love for his son, I can't remember 30 years on why he was flying alone but I do remember there were a lot of very emotional scenes in the film. If it is somehow still available I would love to be able to find it.

wayne-324 I have just finished watching the film "Duma" on one of the movies channels on Homechoice in the UK and throughout kept having flashes of a film I half remembered which I saw as a kid. At first I thought "Duma" must be a remake but there were too many deviations.After a phone call to South Africa and a lot of arguing my Mother reminded me that as a kid we saw a movie called "Dirkie" at the drive-in in Joh'burg. I wasn't even at school and she has never yet managed to remember both plot and title. I was sure she was wrong. I'd never heard of "Dirkie" and then I looked up the title on the Internet and had a great time reading all the comments. I too remember this poor kid being chased by ostriches and getting stung by a scorpion. And walking for ever through the sand. Were the chapped lips and mouth that was stuck together the reason there was so little dialogue? Or was it that the boy was Afrikaans-speaking and the movie was being sold outside of SA?So if you want to watch something similar (or perhaps you're a home-sick South African sitting in a freezing cold London) I recommend "Duma". It is a kid's movie but very touching. I think I'll have to find an excuse to watch it again.

darry-1 i remember seeing this movie as a young boy more than 30 years ago, it was part of a double bill , i don't recall what the main feature was and i think that is testament to just how memorable this movie is. the images of the young boy believing he has eaten his dog , and his father dropping thousands of leaflets to try and help him, have stayed in my mind for all this time.there was also a scene where he crossed from one desert to another , made visible by the different coloured sand, also the ostrich egg scene which i vividly remember.i really can't believe that so many people were moved by this film in the same way that i was . it amazes me that this film has never shown up on British television , or been released on video/DVD.