Director: Matthew Walker
Starring: 
Distributor: Label Distribution
Runtime: 88 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Strong coarse language

Wanita is a country and western singer from Tamworth, whose life is unconventional and who has the ambition to sing in the US and make an album there.

That’s Wanita with a W instead of Juanita. Wanita explains that her mother wasn’t literate, hence the W. Wanita has lived in Tamworth for more than 25 years – and prominently above the front door of her house there is a sign proclaiming Honkytonkville. And Wanita has been proclaimed the Queen of Honky Tonk.

Which means that this lively documentary has two potential audiences.

First, it is for fans of country music, rhythm and blues, honky-tonk, who know the festivals in Tamworth and beyond, who appreciate the songs, the singing styles, the personalities of the singers, their accompanists, the bands. Which means that there are a number of songs throughout, some sung with enormous verve by Wanita, many own compositions, but also versions of, especially, two singers that she admires and talks about – Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams.

Second, the potential audience consists of those who are not Tamworth fans and who may have never heard of Wanita.

Which means that this is a documentary portrait for her fans and for those who don’t know her. And, what a portrait – even visually in so many close-ups, flaming red hair, not exactly petite, not exactly her younger self when she won competitions in the 1990s. But, here she is, in her 40s, erratic in her behaviour, involved in sex work to make ends meet, still singing – but, with a huge ambition to fulfil a life’s dream, to go to the US, to Memphis, to New Orleans and, especially, to Nashville and record an album there. The latter part of this film, after she received an unexpected financial gift, takes her to America. And, she is accompanied by two firm friends, guitarist Archer (with a pleasing song or two during the film), who still tours Australia, and versatile musician Glennie Ray Virus who serves as her manager – not without frustrations at Wanita’s tantrums, drinking…

So far there has been no mention of Wanita’s married name – and this is quite an unanticipated story in itself. It is Turkish – Bahtiyar. Almost 20 years ago, Wanita went to Turkey for a possible marriage and ended up marrying the father of the intended groom. His nickname is Baba and, at the time of filming, he has lived with his wife in Tamworth for 17 years, loving her, she seemingly smitten with him, some exchanges in Turkish, and he continually concerned about their lack of money… At the end of the film, it is noted that he died in 2020.

Wanita also has a daughter, resembling her mother in looks, who appears in the film, appreciating her mother, but sometimes alienated.

This is a very colourful documentary with Matthew Walker expanding his 2016 short film, Heart of a Queen. Wanita is a strong personality, strong and determined singer with a voice appreciated around the world. (But, we might not like to actually encounter her in real life).