Synopsis
A Jewish woman named Jettel Redlich flees Nazi Germany with her daughter Regina, to join her husband, Walter, on a farm in Kenya. At first, Jettel refuses to adjust to her new circumstances, bringing with her a set of china dishes and an evening gown. While Regina adapts readily to this new world, forming a strong bond with her father's cook, an African named Owuor.
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Cast
- Juliane KöhlerJettel Redlich
- Merab NinidzeWalter Redlich
- Sidede OnyuloOwuor
- Matthias HabichSüßkind
- Lea KurkaRegina (younger)
- Karoline EckertzRegina (older)
- Gerd HeinzMax
- Hildegard SchmahlIna
- Maritta HorwarthLiesel
- Regine ZimmermannKäthe
- 90
Los Angeles Times
This is an intelligent epic told without special pleading, a film able to cut deep enough to reveal a keen specificity of experience. - 88
Boston Globe
The movie's strength is its refusal to offer easy answers. - 88
USA Today
It's also as good as "Out of Africa." - 80
L.A. Weekly
The movie's real strength lies in its intelligent, sympathetic account of the dynamic, difficult marriage of Regina's parents. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Audience empathy for the displaced Redlichs, coupled with the filmmaker's proffered charms of wise natives and their mysterious rituals, goes a long way toward making this lyrical travelogue a crowd pleaser. - 70
TV Guide Magazine
Beautifully shot on location in Kenya and filled with touching, almost magical moments, Link's film has been nominated for the 2002 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film. - 67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Never quite escapes the Euro-centric blinders of its characters, but its engagement with their evolving sense of identity and story of empowerment and acceptance is nonetheless rousing. - 60
Slate
There's something too refined and emotionally neutral about Nowhere in Africa, as if Link had directed with white gloves. Maybe she knew how loaded this African-Jewish subject was and didn't want it push it too hard. Maybe that's why she won an Oscar.