Product: Nowhere in Africa (2003)
Rating: 5.0
Beautifully Rendered, Organically Produced
Other reviews give you synopsis. This review is more about the effect of the film on me, and why I think I was so moved by it.This is a love story, first, as the director and actors state in the special features. It is that. The story of a married couple who find that they have little really in common with one another, once taken out of their normal environment. It is the struggle to be oneself, yet be a couple, when all is said and done. However, it is the daughter and the Kenyan cook who create a magic that I haven't seen written in reviews. The daughter quickly adapts to the strange and different life in Kenya, as well as the English schooling. She lives in three worlds, easily. The cook is a wise man, who brings all of the characters together, as if he is the quiet sounding board for all.The interview, in Special Features, with the gentleman who plays the cook is fascinating, as he describes the difference between working with American crews and the German crew for this film, and it helped me to understand why I reacted so deeply to the script and the actors. It was how the Germans built the film around the environment and people rather than changing it to suit their own notions.Based on a true story, by the daughter, of her family's survival and re-invention through intense change and pain. This is not a depressing movie. This is an uplifting one.This is a story about relationships. About diversity. About change and how people adapt. About love for human beings, as well as environment. One of the best films I've ever seen.