Product: Nowhere in Africa (2003)
Rating: 5.0
Refugees Become Enemy Aliens
Some Jews in order to escape from Hitler's persecution and genocide in the late 1930's fled to parched Kenya in Africa where they found the life primitive and faced new kinds of hostility. This movie zeroes in on a family from Breslau. A mother and her daughter take flight to Kenya to join the husband who is a tenant farmer struggling to eke out a living. Regina, the daughter, accepts the blacks and their culture while the mother shows her initial prejudices. Her husband owes a debt to his Kenyan male cook because the servant saved him from a severe attack of malaria. The cook befriends Regina.The British, colonial rulers of Kenya, interred many Jews and made their exiled life harder even though England was at war with Nazi Germany. The family's status changed from refugees to enemy aliens.This German (best foreign film Oscar winner for 2002) movie has vivid scenes of the life in Africa. Great scenes of old 30's vintage vehicles traveling around the arid landscape. The movie deals with the complex world of the three main characters. Both the husband and wife are struggling with their own demons while the daughter accepts her new African home but struggles to understand the strange adult world around her.The director is willing to take chances and present a multi-layered view of the lives of these refugees. The actors are outstanding, and the film has great cinematography. An adult film for viewers who want more than Hollywood treacle.