Nowhere in Africa

2001 [GERMAN]

Action / Biography / Drama / History

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 88% · 101 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 88% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 14675 14.7K

kenia farm marriage crisis loss of loved one emigration world war ii

Plot summary

A Jewish woman named Jettel Redlich flees Nazi Germany with her daughter Regina, to join her husband, Walter, on a farm in Kenya. At first, Jettel refuses to adjust to her new circumstances, bringing with her a set of china dishes and an evening gown. While Regina adapts readily to this new world, forming a strong bond with her father's cook, an African named Owuor.

Director

Caroline Link Photo
Caroline Link

Top cast

Anthony Bate Photo
Anthony Bate as Mr. Brindley
Andrew Sachs Photo
Andrew Sachs as Mr. Rubens
Bettina Redlich Photo
Bettina Redlich as Mrs. Sadler
Merab Ninidze Photo
Merab Ninidze as Walter Redlich
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.27 GB
1280*544
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles de  
24 fps
2 hr 21 min
Seeds 1
2.61 GB
1920*816
German 5.1
NR
Subtitles de  
24 fps
2 hr 21 min
Seeds 8

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Kalamata 7 / 10

deserves more than one viewing

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.
Reviewed by AlsExGal 8 / 10

A different kind of holocaust film

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.
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