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February 28, 2003
Capturing life's essence
VJFF hosts special screening of Nowhere in Africa.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Members of the Lower Mainland's Jewish community can be among the
first to see what is being hailed as a beautiful, powerful movie
– the Academy Award-nominated Nowhere in Africa. The
Vancouver Jewish Film Festival is presenting the Vancouver première
of the film at a special screening next month.
Written and directed by Caroline Link, the movie is based on the
best-selling autobiographical novel by Stephanie Zweig. It tells
the story of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for
a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence
in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife, Jettel, and their five-year-old
daughter, Regina, each adapt to their new life in different ways.
Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika) won five 2002
Golden Lola (German Film) Awards, including best film, director
and cinematography, and it has been nominated for 2003 Academy and
Golden Globe awards for best foreign language film. It stars Juliane
Köhler as Jettel, Merab Ninidze as Walter and Lea Kurka and
Karoline Eckertz as the child and teenage Regina, respectively.
Sidede Onyulo plays the Redlichs' Kenyan cook, Owuor, and Matthias
Habich plays Süsskind, a fellow German expatriate.
In the film's opening moments, we see Regina and her family, toboganning
on a crowded mountain, scared off by a Nazi youth. Interspersed
with these shots is footage of a young Kenyan boy biking along a
dusty, empty road, carrying a message in his mouth. We then witness
a party with several wealthy-looking people crammed into a small
apartment, while the Kenyan boy arrives at a farmhouse that truly
looks as if it is in the middle of nowhere in Africa. The first
time we meet Walter, he is being treated for malaria by Süsskind
and being kept alive by Owuor, whose loyalty to the Redlichs never
wavers. Compare this with what Walter writes in a letter to Jettel,
who is still in Germany with Regina: "There's no one you can
trust, not even people we called our best friends."
It is such contrasting images and ideas as these that make Nowhere
in Africa such a compelling and beautiful movie. At the same
time as it portrays the cruelty of which humans are capable, it
shows the power of loving relationships. While it shows the harshness
of life in Africa (and Germany), it depicts how deeply connected
people are to the land. It captures the essence of life – its
conflicts and its reconciliations, and just how much work it takes
to make life worthwhile.
Walter, who was an attorney, is a caretaker on a farm in Africa
and, although he listens fervently to the radio for news from Germany,
he tries to build a new life for his family and seems relatively
content. Jettel, however, arrives in Kenya with her family's china
and an expensive evening gown; she fears the Kenyans and treats
them with haughtiness. Meanwhile, Regina immediately embraces the
country – learning the local language and customs, and finding
a friend in Owuor.
But the situation changes. Jettel grows more comfortable and self-sufficient
in Africa, Walter becomes more haunted by the life they left behind
and Regina goes off to a British-run boarding school, where, among
other white girls her age, albeit mostly Christians, she "learned
very quickly what it means to be an outsider."
Nowhere in Africa is showing at the Norman Rothstein Theatre
March 13, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 and a wine and cheese reception
follows the screening. For tickets, call 604-644-1157.
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