Nowhere in Africa

For once the Academy got it right. Claiming this year's Oscar for best foreign film, Nowhere in Africa is a poignant lesson in cultural understanding and tolerance. Not a bad thing in these troubled times.

Adapted from Stephanie Zweig's novel, the tale tells of a Jewish family's escape from Nazi Germany to Kenya. Set before, during and after World War 2, the story is luminously narrated by the grown-up daughter Regina Redlich (Lea Kurka and Karoline Eckertz). Walter Redlich (Merab Ninidze) is a lawyer unable to continue his work under the Nazi regime. Fleeing without material possession, he arrives in Kenya to work on a farm. Suffering from Malaria he is nursed by his Masai cook, Owuor, convincingly portrayed by native Kenyan actor, Sidede Onyulo. Soon his wife Jettel (Julianne Kohler) and daughter arrive, and are forced into a major u-turn in lifestyle.

Cultural adaptation proves far easier for young precocious Regina than for Jettel. Building up a strong and loving rapport with Owuor, she intelligently absorbs the language and cultural idioms of the Masai people. Jettel proves more adverse to change, and is initially reluctant to cut loose her bourgeois comforts. Initially hostile to Owuor, she refuses to converse until he "learns to speak German." Scolded by her husband for treating the natives as the Nazis are treating the Jews, the safety of their previous middle class marriage is thrown into turmoil, as circumstances force both to search for new meanings. When all Germans in Kenya are branded as "enemy aliens" Walter enlists under the British, and the family are forced to leave the farm, leaving all concerned in a state of dislocation and suspension.

Directed with supreme confidence, Caroline link explores themes of isolation, the pain of unknowing, and the beauty of cultural diversity. Giving equal weight to both the natives and the German Jews her portrayal is wholly unsentimental. By combining the rustic beauty of Africa's landscape with a heart throbbing score of drums and strings, the result is heart shifting.