Nowhere in Africa

    Nowhere in Africa
    2001

    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

    Recommendations

    • 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.