Nowhere in Africa (2001) User Reviews

Chronicle of a survival

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 3 April 2003]

This film was a surprise. It presents us a family that escape the horrors they foresaw coming in Germany to an uncertain future in Africa. The film as directed by Caroline Link, based on a novel by Stephanie Zweig, presents us with a family of survivors who will cling to life by going out of their world into the great unknown and a continent away.

In Germany the Redlich family is upper middle class. The household is filled with people going about their lives in an elegant way. That is until Walter and Jettel Redlich decide to leave it all behind to start a new life in Africa, thus avoiding a certain death.

Walter and Jettel stick out like sore thumbs in the rural part of Kenya where they go. Walter has never done any kind of manual labor, or Jettel, for that matter. Little Regina, who is a sweet and curious girl, feels right at home from the beginning. Children will adapt more easily than grown ups.

The Redlichs are lucky when Owuor arrives. They employ him right away. He is kindness personified; he turns out to be indispensable for all of them. When Walter loses the first post, the family has to relocate to another farm helped by the benevolent Susskind; his attraction to Jettel is evident, but he is too decent to take advantage of the situation.

The many difficulties are overcome because Jettel turns out to be the strongest person in this family. She is played by Juliane Kohler with gusto. She makes us feel she is this woman in the midst of a harsh place fighting all kinds of obstacles in order to survive in the new country.

The setting feels like the Africa of the 30s and 40s when it was a white man's paradise. This is the Africa where genocides will occur later on, as different nations will try to gain independence and some governments will practice what made this family flee Nazi Germany in the first place.

A different kind of holocaust film

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 18 June 2021]

Splendid German film (Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film) about a Jewish family who flees to Kenya in 1938, to escape the Nazis. Based on a true story, the plot involves the marginal nature of the Jewish characters in a radically different foreign land, and how they come to terms with the change and even come to love aspects of it. The most heartbreaking aspects of the film involve the arrival of letters from Germany, announcing the imprisonment or death of loved ones who chose to stay. The little girl says, "When a letter comes with that stamp on it, it brings tears." There is excellent acting from the European and African cast.

Excellent movie on how love grows over time between two married people.

[paulholland1 · 8/10 · 27 December 2003]

A wonderfully acted and directed movie about love between two married people. Excellent story about how we can live together in love, even if our backgrounds or cultures are different. The director really knows how to make a great movie. The emotional love scenes really made the movie special.

A different view of racism

[csm23 · 2 February 2004]

When it comes to films about the Nazi racism, Nowhere in Africa is in a class by itself. Unlike Schindler's List and a plethora of screenplays on the subject, all of which confine the drama to the morality of good and evil, some with didactic overtones, others with pure shock value, or both, this movie illuminates, both with a spotlight, and a microscope, the social origins of racism. Here's the problem: The very institutions that teach right from wrong, that inculcate tribal loyalty, patriotism, and social identity, that teach us to pledge allegiance and follow the golden rule, have also quietly inferred, or noisily demanded, that the `other,' the `alien amongst us' in Biblical terms, is both different, and inferior. Every culture, Herodotus observed, thinks its own system of values superior to the values of others. If this is true (and I think it is), the subtext is clear: `others' are inferior. Which leads one to ask: Is it possible to have a moral, socialized populace without racism, or, at least, ethnocentrism?

Set in Kenya during World War II, the drama devolves around the struggles of an expatriate family of German Jews. Culturally, intellectually, and socially, they are Germans, not Jews, which is both fascinating, and historically accurate. Like many other Jews of their generation, the expatriate family viewed their Jewish heritage with both skepticism, and as a sentimental indulgence. Unable to come to grips with the events in Europe, reeling from and their new social status of being nobodies in the middle of nowhere, they struggle as social nomads, stuck between their privileged position as white overlords of the native Blacks, and their fallen, uncertain status as guests without rights. We watch the internal dynamics of a Jewish expatriate family through the prism of its own internalized assumptions, both as highly cultured Germans, and increasingly as Jews. And what they discover about their own hidden assumptions, their ethnocentrism and European sense of privilege and superiority, becomes as shocking to them as Hitler's Germany.

Like every other archetypal hero, being nobody in the middle of nowhere is the crucible that produces the Hero's special character, where he or she eventually returns home, in the end, bearing gifts, wisdom, and a healing balm. In the end, they emerge with real gem of a prize: they understand, both intellectually and emotionally, the comparative advantage of other cultures and societies.

What I especially loved about this film is its emotional tone. It's an emotionally evocative film, though not with the mawkish, childish paroxysms of a Disney flick. We watch adults dealing with culturally layered adult emotions, unwrapping and examining each layer as one peels an onion. Their collective emotional journey is as rich and textured and subtly presented as any I've seen.

First Epic in a Long Time

[zachsaltz · 10/10 · 27 July 2003]

Here is a grand epic in the scale of "Gone With the Wind", "Lawrence of Arabia", and "Fitzcarraldo". It is the best movie I've seen this year, and more than that, it was one of the most amazing film experiences of my life.

It is Caroline Link's "Nowhere in Africa", which won the Best Foreign Film Award when, in actuality, it was far better than the Best Picture of the Year. To call it a great or brilliant or majestic film is an understatement; in fact, I'm at a loss for adjectives to describe it.

The film tells the story of a German Jewish woman and her young daughter summoned to Kenya by her husband, circa. 1938. Adolf Hitler is on the brink of declaring his "final solution" of the Jews, and it is with great luck that Jettel and young Regina escape.

In Africa, they adapt slowly to their new rural life. While Regina befriends cook Owuor, Walter and Jettel's relationship threatens to destroy itself because of the hardships the family encounters.

I will not spend too much time going into detail, for watching this masterful story unfold is a treasure in itself. This film is based on an autobiography by Stephanie Zweig, and when it is available in English, I will certainly read it.

Also, the language in this movie is truly beautiful. I saw "Nowhere in Africa" again, just days after watching it for the first time, and spent more time ignoring the subtitles and listening to the beautiful spoken German.

And then there is one scene toward the end that I simply could not believe. It involves a locust invasion, and, quite simply, it was the first time I've ever seen something on the screen and asked myself aloud (as I did the first viewing), "How did they do that?"

The performances here are first-rate, too. Julianne Kohler, who was wonderful in the ultra-weird "Aimee & Junger" is perfect; we understand this woman fully, even when she doesn't speak. Merab Ninidze has some great scenes with Walter, the father; and Sidede Onyulo is simply magical as Owuor.

But the movie belongs to the two girls who play Regina. They look amazingly similar, and they are both stellar. Lea Kurka brings much hope as the adorable young Regina, and Karoline Eckertz is subtle and remarkable as the older Regina, particularly in a heartbreaking exchange with her father at her school.

It would be a shame to miss this film. No, it would be more than a shame. It would be downright wrong and discouraging. This film, along with the wonderful "Whale Rider" are two remarkable international films that bring beauty, grace, and majesty to the screen, and are perfect for adults and older children.

Adorable, Wonderful, Delightful – I do not Have Enough Words to Express How Beautiful This Tale About the Life of an Expatriated Family in Times of War Is!

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 16 November 2004]

In 1937, the non-orthodox Jewish German lawyer Walter Redlich (Merab Ninidze), aware of the growing of the Nazi movement in Germany and how it would jeopardize the Jews in his country, moves alone to Nairobi, Kenya, to administrate a farm. His only friend is the also Jewish German Süßkind (Matthias Habich) and his African cooker Owuor (Sidede Onyulo). In 1938, his spoiled wife Jettel Redlich (Juliane Köhler) and their young daughter Regina (Lea Kurka / Karoline Eckertz) arrive. Regine easily adapts to her new lifestyle, but Jettel does not adapt to her new condition of poor expatriated woman in Africa. Along the years, bursts the Second World War, and the Redlich family experiences the most different situations until 1947.

Adorable, wonderful, delightful – I do not have enough words to express and describe how beautiful this tale about the life of an expatriated family in times of war is! The running time is 141 minutes, but it could be longer so lovely the Redlich family saga is. There is drama, action, romance, sympathy, love, hate, the most different sensations and feelings are transmitted to the viewer in this stunning movie. A must-see film indicated for the whole family. Congratulations to the writer, director, cast and the whole crew who have developed such a wonderful entertainment. 'Nirgendwo in Afrika' is certainly one of the best movies I have watched in the last years. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): 'Lugar Nenhum na África' ('Nowhere in Africa')

deserves more than one viewing

[Kalamata · 7/10 · 18 July 2006]

I did find Nowhere In Africa more absorbing upon a second viewing. It's sneaky. When I watched it a second time, I felt more at ease with the characters, and because of that I found myself able to absorb myself in their problems (and in the way they see them) more completely and to imagine their lives much more fully. Yet this film, beautiful as it is, is more a narrative string, a series of scenes, than a drama. It's not that there is a shortage of drama in the idea - or ideas, for there are many - it is just that the drama is not concentrated on any of the various story lines that keep tantalizing us. They tantalize but are never realized, at least not to the full extent they could have been. The director should have taken one or two of the themes she has here and delved into them much more thoroughly. What we have are a number of interesting sketches but never a full canvas. That does not mean that the movie is without its moments (the brilliant young German daughter speaking with the British school headmaster was one such moment, wonderful), but as a viewer I kept wanting more out of each relationship, both between the humans, and between the humans and the place itself. Too much of the film is a kind of mystery without any solution. The shorthand the director uses to tell us her story feels more like an outline for a movie than a real movie. It's a beautiful trailer that goes on for 140 minutes: time aplenty to have told us a really great story. Nonetheless, I do recommend this film. It is visually quite stunning, and the performances are universally good. A solid 3 stars.

Caroline Link does not discover new territories with this traditionally-told melodrama but succeeds in making "Nowhere in Africa" a timeless and moving film.

[Holitao · 10/10 · 6 May 2003]

Based on a true story, a Jewish family escapes Nazi Germany and relocates to Kenya. Traumatic at first, then the family discovers a new way of life to be not without its rewards.

Listening from a portable radio in Africa about the details of Jewish holocaust is somewhat confining but a wonderful way of providing emotional tension central to this story. Instead of being witness to visceral aspects of the war, we are left to examine the resilience of human spirit and infinite possibilities of life. Vast and captivating African sceneries are not only beautiful but also gives spiritual lift that guide the family along their journey. Caroline Link does not discover new territories with this traditionally-told melodrama but succeeds in making "Nowhere in Africa" a timeless and moving film.

Better read the book

[nancy_hse · 6/10 · 22 February 2010]

My opinion is probably influenced by the fact that I've read the book but since this movie is an adaptation it should be able to deal with this.

The movie itself is neither very good nor very bad. It has some very good scenes which cause the exact feelings they are supposed to. But mostly the movie is as if in a rush to show events and feelings that are not supposed to be shown like this. This movie must be even slower (although many people think it's too slow as it is) because many things are left out of our view. And one more thing which is - in my view - very bad. There are too many "love lines" (along with nude scenes which are completely unnecessary) which don't exist in the book. I have no idea why the directors tend to show these things so much even when they only spoil the picture. The story is good by itself, there's no need to use such methods to draw attention to it.

I would highly recommend to read the book which is nothing less than a masterpiece. Its beautiful and unconventional language is unforgettable. The comparisons are fascinating and are definitely something that could be only created by wise people of Africa rather than Western people. Also, you can see how wise Owuor and Regina are. You can see some hints of it in the movie but the book gives a much better perspective. And of course, the story is completely coherent comparing with the movie where it is sometimes too difficult to understand the reasons of some actions/events.

So really, better read the book.

Simply wonderful!

[Cinemator · 10/10 · 8 January 2002]

What a great movie! I really don't know what to praise first: The great acting, the music or the cinematography, everything is really done more than very well! Fortunately the tribal life in rural Kenia is neither glorified as the only and true way of living, nor is it shown with the arrogance of the civilized. Like Regina the audience will soon become a friend of Owuor, the lovely cook of the family. There are enough problems shown in this movie and the Redlichs have to deal with the death of their relatives who stayed in Germany, with more than one crisis in their marriage and several other things. Other directors would have turned this movie into a terrible tear-jerker, but Caroline Link tells the story with such a warm humor, it's really great. Although this movie also shows the beauty of Africa it depicts Kenia in a realistic way. There are enough other movies about Kenia that are full of sunsets and elephants, showing Africa like a postcard - this is not one of them. And nevertheless I wanted to go there right after watching it. If you loved "Jenseits der Stille", you'll also love this movie.

The Holocaust viewed from colonial Kenya by a Jewish family

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 20 February 2017]

Released in 2001 and directed by Caroline Link from the autobiographical novel by Stefanie Zweig, "Nowhere in Africa" chronicles life in Kenya during World War II centering around a Jewish couple (Juliane Köhler and Merab Ninidze) and their daughter (Lea Kurka and, later, Karoline Eckertz). Matthias Habich plays a fellow Jew living in Kenya who assists them while Sidede Onyulo plays their Kenyan cook, who becomes a sort-of foster father to the girl.

This is a German film with only a handful of lines in English, which means you'll have to use the subtitles if English is your primary language. Like "Out of Africa" (1985), "Nowhere in Africa" is a historical drama brimming with cinematic confidence and thoroughly convincing. The difference is that the more popular earlier film focuses on colonial Kenya during WWI while this one takes place during WWII.

The couple has an interesting story arc and I liked the emphasis on Native Kenyan culture. Watching it, you're swept back in time to WWII-era Kenya. There are some slow parts, but that's the nature of the beast. If you want cartoony jungle action, like "Predator," "Nowhere in Africa" won't work; but if you want realistic historical drama akin to "Out of Africa," it expertly fills the bill. While not as good as either, "I Dreamed of Africa" (2001) is an interesting companion piece, taking place in post-colonial Kenya during the 70s.

The film runs 141 minutes and was shot in Kenya and Germany.

GRADE: B

One of the best films I have seen in the last decade

[sarvananda · 10/10 · 20 March 2003]

I saw this film twice, once on Saturday and once on the following Tuesday. I never do this.

"Nowhere in Africa" is one of the most authentic films I have seen in a long time. Like a good John Irving novel, "Nowhere in Africa" is not made up of heroes and villains. It is made up of human beings who go through their difficulties and evolve. The characters grow in the course of the film. Particularly incredible are the two actors who play the daughter at age eight and then in adolescence. It is one of the most remarkable feats of casting and acting that these two become one. They are a "seamless" being who is never cute but very real.

This film is a breath of fresh air in a media that is not particularly known for its freshness.

I bought this DVD thinking I'd see people interacting with animals

[blrnani · 7/10 · 28 August 2022]

That's not at all what it's about. It's about people interacting with other people and we barely see any animals. But nevertheless I found it fascinating, particularly the daughter's enthusiastic assimilation within the local Kenyan native culture, the ups and downs of the relationship between her parents (Jews who fled nazism in their home country) and the treatment of the local Germans by the British colonial authorities, once the country finds itself at war.

There is much love, understanding and tolerance shown, within a world that is dealing with fascist intolerance, and I would recommend this film as a healthy treat for all the family.

eh. didn't do it for me

[jonathan941 · 5/10 · 17 March 2005]

SPOILERS

I agree with some of the others who were not moved by this over-hyped movie. Yes the music and cinematography was well done but the overwhelming mediocrity in other key areas cannot be overlooked--see the spanning of much time without giving evidence of why the characters acted the way they did/what their motivation was. There was indeed little character development and the wife's attitude especially seemed to arbitrarily change for the better, not to mention it was never clear why the couple stayed together/still loved each other, when the trend seemed to be going the other direction. Plus, how interested did she really seem in what was going on in Germany, in light of how much she professed to worry about it?-- for example she tries to seduce Suesskind while he's telling her about news of the war, she acts completely indifferent towards the great news of the allies arriving in France. On a different note, did the husband show any sign of having fought in a war when he returned?

Basically themes touched on in the movie have been covered with much more depth, feeling, believability etc. Exotic setting and a story of refugees in hard times doesn't compensate for a storyline which is in no way dynamic (reaching any sort of climax), or unengaging characters.

Don't believe the hype.

a unique perspective on the holocaust

[Buddy-51 · 13 June 2004]

The German film `Nowhere in Africa' provides a fascinating glimpse into a little known chapter in World War II history. The film tells of a handful of Jews who, on the eve of the war, fled to the wilds of Kenya to escape the rising tide of anti-Semitism in their home country. The movie focuses on a lawyer named Walter, his wife, Jettel, and their daughter, Regina, who narrates the tale.

The foundation of the story rests on a series of interlocking ironies. First, these Jewish refugees find themselves being treated in a more humane fashion in this ostensibly `uncivilized' society than they were in the so-called `civilized' one they've been forced to flee. Second, the men in this dislocated community end up fighting against their own native country, eagerly joining the allied forces in their attempt to overthrow Hitler. Moreover, Jettel, although she and her family are themselves victims of prejudice and bigotry, still feels superior to and looks down upon a culture and a people she believes are clearly inferior to her own. Finally, as the war comes to a close, Walter and Jettel virtually trade places in their attitudes: he, once so eager to remain in Kenya, feeling the need to return to a post-Hitler Germany to help rebuild his native country and she, once so eager to leave it, wanting to remain in a land she has learned to love, a country she has come, in many ways, to think of as her own.

In fact, it is the transition Jettel undergoes throughout the course of the story that makes `Nowhere in Africa' such a fascinating film. For Jettel is clearly the most interesting and complex character in the movie. Haughty and coldly superior at the outset, she eventually comes to see the beauty of `differences' that exist between peoples and cultures, an appreciation that, paradoxically, brings home for her the universal nature of human beings. Despite the grim reality of what is happening to her family and friends back home, Jettel is at first unable to shake the sense of pampered privilege she has long taken for granted as a result of her upper middle class upbringing and background. But both the land and the people of Kenya soon transform her into a woman who is able to see and understand the truly important things in life – tolerance, acceptance, love, family. The relationship between Walter and Jettel is a truly complex one; they are not a conventionally happily married couple, but rather one torn apart by their different, often-conflicting views of the world and their somewhat shaky love for one another. There are times in the movie when we simply do not know where one or the other partner is coming from – and that ambiguity heightens both the reality and the drama of the characters and their situation. As the ever-observant daughter, Regina is a more conventional, less well-rounded personality, more a plot device than a fully developed character in her own right. Still, she provides a great deal of the emotional depth needed to fully engage the audience in the story.

All the actors are superb, with Juliane Kohler as Jettel proving a particular standout. In addition, the wide screen photography captures, with crystal clear clarity, the haunting beauty of the African countryside, bringing an almost epic quality to this otherwise intimate family drama. For, indeed, despite the personal nature of the story, there is lurking ever present in the background – mainly through letters received from desperate and increasingly endangered relatives back home – the larger picture of a world gone suddenly, inexplicably mad, a world that feels strangely remote yet which is all too real in its menace and influence. This isolated community may provide for these dislocated people a refuge for the body, but it can't provide a refuge for the mind and soul.

`Nowhere in Africa' offers a unique, eye-opening perspective on the holocaust.

Simply Wonderful

[aliasme · 10/10 · 4 November 2004]

Having just watched one of the most visually stunning and beautifully acted pieces of cinema in my long and varied life, I can only find praise for every facet of this fabulous tale. All of the pieces came together with a genuine and sincere feel for the period and the people. No fair-minded lover of the cinema can fault this production, it is simply right in every category and every magical frame. The only film so far this year to earn a 10/10 from me. Highly recommended and a tribute to ALL those involved.

what a treat

[jonjkaplan · 10/10 · 5 May 2003]

I'll skip the summary, since there are lots of reviews here. This is one of the most beautifully filmed movies that I have ever seen. The acting, the screenwriting, the music are all first rate. I've watched it three times and found more in it each time. It brings to mind, "The Poisonwood Bible" a fine book by Barbara Kingsolver. I highly Recommend this film.

"Letters with this stamp always bring tears"

[evening1 · 7/10 · 24 December 2021]

The ones who stayed behind in Germany thought the madness would all be over in a year of two.

However, the family we meet in 1938 Breslau leaves everything they know -- home, career, and loved ones -- for a new life in the bush country of Kenya, "because we're Jews."

This atmospheric drama brings excellent casting and dialogue.

The notion of marriage for life, from erstwhile lawyer Walter -- "It's probably just nonsense that our ancestors persuaded us to accept."

And, of a local elder who has decided it is time to leave this existence: "This woman needs no help. She wants to die. The hyenas will take away her body at night."

Jettel (Juliane Kohler) to her precocious daughter Regina: "Differences are good, and intelligent people will never hold it against you."

When 9 May 1945 arrives, we brighten to the resonant voice of Churchill -- "We have never seen a greater day than this."

Jettel can't believe it when her husband wants to return to Germany, after the horrors of Hitler: "How can you believe in that country?"

"I believe I can be useful in a new country," he replies. "I'm proud to be an idealist!"

Though its theme is more momentous and profound, this film reminded me of 1983's "Cross Creek," in that it showed the transformation of a visitor/tourist to one truly part of the community.

The movie features some stunning landscapes, including Lake Bogoria and its thousands of flamingoes. It includes an amazing scene in which villagers seem engaged in a hopeless battle against locusts, but we witness the power of everyone pitching in, and never giving up. Now, that's a triumphant day, too.

In the end, our reluctant heroine Jettel, like Mary Steenburgen's Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in "Cross Creek," has become a part of the land. Lingering in a hand clasp with a food vendor, she confides that "I'm as poor as a monkey."

No words for how beautiful this film is...

[lucretiavox61 · 10/10 · 26 January 2006]

...but I will try. The things that appealed to me about the story of the film was the juxtaposition of the lives of the tribal Kenyans and those of the German-Jewish émigrés (particularly how images of the Pentatuch were reflected in the story of the main characters, i.e. the locust, the wandering, the image of Africa as a "wilderness). The family is an archetype of sorts of many survivors (particularly Jewish) of a tragedy and finding faith and renewal. I was deeply impressed with the movie's treatment of marriage and "married-sex" with an honesty and openness that would cause me not to give this an R-rating It is sex as young people-- even children-- today need to see it: as an integral part of humanity, between two people who have endured much with each other and find strength in their "oneness". The scene of morning after-- which I won't tell the details-- brought me to tears. This movie is powerful and an example of cinema as spirituality and the strength of society for many reasons, not the least of which are: 1. the depiction of culture clash and cultural understanding; human survival in its dark and bright days; 2.the strength and value of the marital and familial bonds outward to the bond with all of humanity. The cinematography was beautiful, the soundtrack was entrancing. If you liked "Indochine" and "Out of Africa", you may also like this movie. I was greatly moved by this movie!

Jew family survive in Africa + ungrateful wife.

[afterdarkpak · 6/10 · 9 August 2020]

The performance is really good in this, production quality is decent. the movie is a bit long, over 2 hours. and most scenes are very long and boring.

A man called and brought his wife n child before WW2 start , he knew that it will be a bloodbath , in start the wife doesnt like to be there, its total different country nd they living in some kinda poverty too. their daughter doing fine, she made friends and got very close to the cook. Time heals everything, so slowly slowly the wife getting interest living there. until British army called all jewish people in Africa to join British army?. everything seems fine but wife want that farm back. so she tried but failed , eventually there is someone who could help her that farm back , only she has to sleep with him.

there the movie goes interesting , until the end,,, everything seems fine and gave some kinda happy ending. Spoilers: yeh they all got back together in the end and left africa. but, that wife, almost had an affair with another guy (husband's good friend). that friend is more loyal than wife. so i thought that in the end, she will leave the husband and stays with him. because she already fall in love or something with another guy, even the daughter knew it. it would be a good or weird ending , if the wife decides to stay with another guy , and husband and daughter leave together. and then wife regret later to stay behind. the husband saved her n their daughter lives from war, then helped them to stay alive together but she feel bad to keep following him.

Slow but very satisfying

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 3 February 2010]

I am sure I'll alienate a lot of viewers out there, but I didn't particularly like "Out of Africa" (1985). While the film looked really nice (especially on the big screen), the story itself was not all that satisfying. Part of this is because I learned about the real events portrayed in the film and they were HEAVILY altered by the author, Isak Denisen. Plus, you never really got to know the Africans themselves--they were more like a part of the scenery than real people. Plus, and this is a biggie, I just didn't care about the characters.

In light of this, I really, really enjoyed "Nirgendwo in Africa" ("No Where in Africa"), as it did not suffer from these same plot problems and yet was also set around the same region of Africa. While there was some decent scenery, this film focused much more on characters and was much more enjoyable--though I also must admit that the film may not appeal to everyone because its pacing is a bit slow and deliberate.

The story begins in 1937. A Jewish man has recently moved to Africa from Nazi Germany. Now he can finally have his wife and young daughter join him. While it's lonely there in Kenya, at least they were able to avoid the direct horrors of the holocaust. Interestingly, much of the film is told from the viewpoint of the daughter and it's nice to see her sense of wonderment over this strange land as well as her fast acceptance of new ways and people. Her parents, in particular her mother, does not adapt so quickly--nor is she able to see the Africans as real people--at least as first.

This brings me to something I liked about the film. Although the girl was a very sweet person (bright, decent and not at all superior in her behavior towards the locals), the parents had much more serious flaws. The mother's are very apparent at first, though over time you can see the father's as well. This made the film more believable as they were flawed...as we all are.

Overall, while this film covers about a decade in time, it does so in a manner that does not seem episodic nor uninvolving. You really do come to care about the folks and it's like you are an unseen part of the family--with them as well as with a few of the natives. A sweet and extremely well made film. My only reservation at all is that the film has some sexuality and nudity in it. I didn't find it all that sexy, but it's probably not something you want to show to younger viewers. With teens, use your common sense, but it's probably okay for older teens. Highly rewarding and I can see how this film managed to take the Oscar for Best Foreign Language movie.

the Holocaust from a different perspective

[dromasca · 7/10 · 5 December 2018]

How much the cinema industry, perception and tastes have changed in only 17 years. These thoughts were triggered by watching 'Nowhere in Africa', a film which was awarded in 2001 the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. Although the topic of the Holocaust remains as actual as always and is still one of the preferred themes among the winners of Academy Awards, the film has some kind of outdated look and at many moments its approach looks more like 20th century rather than 21st century cinema. I dare say that if the novel or the true story that inspired the film were brought to screen nowadays they would have looked different, and the film as it is would not make such an impact if screened as a premiere today.

The originality of the film which was in part reason for its success 17 years ago and is still actual today lies in the approach to a story that was told many times, but from different perspectives. 'Nowhere in Africa' is a film about the Holocaust but there are no scenes of camps, mass murders or persecutions. Most of the action does not even take place in Europe, but in Africa. The heroes of the story belong to that category of German and European Jews who understood earlier than other and had the means to escape Germany and the countries that were to fall under German occupation. They saved their lives by fleeing to any country or place on Earth that would allow them to settle (not all did, many actually refused their entry as refugees). They reached places like China, South America and for the Redlich family in the film, Africa, more precisely Kenya, then a British colony. They live under the sun of Africa, but the black clouds of the Holocaust are all over - in the fear with which they wait for each letter from the parents and rest of family left at home, in their nightmares and in the longing for the continent they left behind, in the fight to survive and the search of their true identity. The film is about the Holocaust as a remote tragedy that impacts the lives of the refugees, but also about the confrontation of the newcomers with the different landscape, culture and people of Africa, about the prejudice that was at the root of their suffering and the one that they encounter from the local British establishment, but also about the prejudice they themselves feel towards the Africans and which they have to overcome. It's also a film about the coming to age of a young girl who is just a kid when she arrives in Africa, who is the first to adapt and love the local landscape and people with the openness and innocence of children, and who grows to be a smart teenager inheriting the identity dilemmas of her parents.

What I liked. The whole story mixes well the themes of Holocaust and identities searching. Describing the Holocaust in absence, just by its psychological pressure, with no graphical representation succeeds quite well. The evolution of the characters is credible, especially the one of the mother in the family (Juliane Köhler). The interaction between the young girl (Lea Kurka, Karoline Eckertz ) and their local cook, Owuor (Sidede Onyulo) is very moving.

What I liked less. Some of the melodramatic turns of the story and part of the rhetoric dialogs seem to have grown old faster than the rest of the film. The acting of the father (Merab Ninidze) is not that convincing.

Film director Caroline Link did not capitalize too well in her career after winning the Oscar Award. She made just two films after Nowhere in Africa' and none of them had the same degree of success. The reasons may be found maybe in what looks dusty in the 2001 film today. A good story is important for a successful film but it is not enough. The story itself needs to be told in a less conformist manner.

My brief review of the film

[sol- · 10/10 · 18 January 2005]

This is a film that has the power to take the viewer to a whole new world, with an involving, poignant screenplay and solid direction by Link. The cinematography is of a standard that can only be described as par excellence; the film's photography exquisitely captures not only the rural landscape but the insides of buildings too – it is hard to find words for such superb cinematography. The pseudo-indigenous music score is excellent too, bringing one into the spirit of Kenya. The content of the film is full of so many ideas that one can extract to the point that it is perhaps too complex a film, but that hardly mars this unforgettable movie experience. The film justly won the 2002 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Adaptation

[diand_ · 4/10 · 4 July 2005]

When you have a story as powerful as this it's almost impossible to strike no emotional tone. But Nirgendwo in Afrika / Nowhere in Africa succeeds in just that through a mechanical adaptation to screen, mechanical direction and mechanical acting. There are few scenes that take this to a higher level and tons of missed opportunities. Take the grasshopper plague where the family more or less reunites or the whole African setting compared to Europe at that time: No parallels are drawn. Reading letters is not the way to convey heavy emotions to the audience. Caroline Link is the main suspect here because she fails in bringing this to a coherent movie. It's also overlong and moves unnecessarily slow probably to tell something about time passing, but again there are better cinematic ways of doing this.

Beautiful panorama shots of the African landscape so I do advice to see this on the big screen if you can. And the two Reginas Lea Kurka and Karoline Eckertz are very adorable. Most intriguing character in the story is Jettel who is tossed around by her emotions and is in the beginning less an adult than her own child. The wider story here is about problems arising from adaptation to new circumstances.

This movie received an Oscar for best foreign film. My guess is that had more to do with the subject than with the adaptation as shown by the undeserved one for De Aanslag / The Assault some years earlier. As usual the Academy had no interest in real film-making, as Ying Xiong / Hero was nominated in the same year and category.

Germany's role in current cinema is diminished severely the last decade in favor of the Spanish and the Danish. Gone are the days of Fassbinder, Herzog or Schlöndorff. But luckily they still have the enormous talent of Tom Tykwer. Nothing mechanical about his movies.

Incredibly Authentic movie on Africa

[mks-6 · 3 September 2004]

There are lots of movies set in Africa. Few come anywhere close to showing the beauty as this movie does. But it is only a backdrop. The plot is captivating and the acting superb.

Having grown up in Kenya, I found the authenticity to be astounding. The use of appropriate languages was mind-blowing. There was not a word spoken that was in German for the sake of the audience -- If it would have been said in swahili, it was; English, in English.

Few movies make quite the impression on me as this one. I seldom watch movies with subtitles, so it took a bit to get used to it, but I think it was better in German than it would have been if it were dubbed.