Family's journey stays in memory
Nowhere in Africa

Stars Juliane Köhler, Merab Nindze, Karoline Eckertz, Lea Kurka, Sided Onyulo. Rated MA. The AV Channel

Reviewer :: Lt Simone Heyer

Nowhere in Africa is one of those enchanting films that takes you somewhere, breathes life into history and weighs on your mind.

A Jewish family decides to leave Nazi Germany in 1938 before they are sent to a concentration camp.

After Walter (Nindze) becomes the caretaker of a property in Kenya, he and Jettel (Köhler) and their daughter, Regina (Kurka/Eckertz), must adapt to their harsh new surroundings.

Despite the ideals of the regime from which they escaped, Jettel says that if the people want to interact with her, they should speak her language and adopt her customs.

As the war in Europe gathers in strength, the British in Kenya intern the German men in a camp. Jettel and Regina are housed with other German women in a mansion with Indian servants until released to take up another property.

Regina grows up, becoming part of the community where their house is, learning the language and playing with the children. Kenya becomes the only home in which she is accepted for who she is.

With the help of her father's native assistant, Owuor (Onyulo), Jettel takes on the responsibility for the property while Walter, now a soldier, serves with the British.

After the war, Walter is offered a job in Germany. Against the wishes of his wife and daughter, the family returns to help rebuild what the Nazi regime destroyed.

Nowhere in Africa won the best foreign film award at the Academy Awards in 2003. Be aware it is in German and Swahili, with English subtitles. The soundtrack is haunting, the acting believable and the cinematography exceptional.