This film was a surprise. It presents us a family that escape the horrors they foresaw coming in Germany to an uncertain future in Africa. The film as directed by Caroline Link, based on a novel by Stephanie Zweig, presents us with a family of survivors who will cling to life by going out of their world into the great unknown and a continent away.

In Germany the Redlich family is upper middle class. The household is filled with people going about their lives in an elegant way. That is until Walter and Jettel Redlich decide to leave it all behind to start a new life in Africa, thus avoiding a certain death.

Walter and Jettel stick out like sore thumbs in the rural part of Kenya where they go. Walter has never done any kind of manual labor, or Jettel, for that matter. Little Regina, who is a sweet and curious girl, feels right at home from the beginning. Children will adapt more easily than grown ups.

The Redlichs are lucky when Owuor arrives. They employ him right away. He is kindness personified; he turns out to be indispensable for all of them. When Walter loses the first post, the family has to relocate to another farm helped by the benevolent Susskind; his attraction to Jettel is evident, but he is too decent to take advantage of the situation.

The many difficulties are overcome because Jettel turns out to be the strongest person in this family. She is played by Juliane Kohler with gusto. She makes us feel she is this woman in the midst of a harsh place fighting all kinds of obstacles in order to survive in the new country.

The setting feels like the Africa of the 30s and 40s when it was a white man's paradise. This is the Africa where genocides will occur later on, as different nations will try to gain independence and some governments will practice what made this family flee Nazi Germany in the first place.

I am sure I'll alienate a lot of viewers out there, but I didn't particularly like "Out of Africa" (1985). While the film looked really nice (especially on the big screen),the story itself was not all that satisfying. Part of this is because I learned about the real events portrayed in the film and they were HEAVILY altered by the author, Isak Denisen. Plus, you never really got to know the Africans themselves--they were more like a part of the scenery than real people. Plus, and this is a biggie, I just didn't care about the characters.

In light of this, I really, really enjoyed "Nirgendwo in Africa" ("No Where in Africa"),as it did not suffer from these same plot problems and yet was also set around the same region of Africa. While there was some decent scenery, this film focused much more on characters and was much more enjoyable--though I also must admit that the film may not appeal to everyone because its pacing is a bit slow and deliberate.

The story begins in 1937. A Jewish man has recently moved to Africa from Nazi Germany. Now he can finally have his wife and young daughter join him. While it's lonely there in Kenya, at least they were able to avoid the direct horrors of the holocaust. Interestingly, much of the film is told from the viewpoint of the daughter and it's nice to see her sense of wonderment over this strange land as well as her fast acceptance of new ways and people. Her parents, in particular her mother, does not adapt so quickly--nor is she able to see the Africans as real people--at least as first.

This brings me to something I liked about the film. Although the girl was a very sweet person (bright, decent and not at all superior in her behavior towards the locals),the parents had much more serious flaws. The mother's are very apparent at first, though over time you can see the father's as well. This made the film more believable as they were flawed...as we all are.

Overall, while this film covers about a decade in time, it does so in a manner that does not seem episodic nor uninvolving. You really do come to care about the folks and it's like you are an unseen part of the family--with them as well as with a few of the natives. A sweet and extremely well made film. My only reservation at all is that the film has some sexuality and nudity in it. I didn't find it all that sexy, but it's probably not something you want to show to younger viewers. With teens, use your common sense, but it's probably okay for older teens. Highly rewarding and I can see how this film managed to take the Oscar for Best Foreign Language movie.

Germany has produced many great movies, and "Nirgendwo in Afrika" (called "Nowhere in Africa" in English) is another one. Aside from the perceptive plot (a German Jewish family flees the Third Reich and moves to East Africa, where the daughter develops a relationship with a local African),there's also the impressive cinematography. You really do have to see it to get the true experience.

Some people may wonder how many movies Germany - or anyone - can make about the Third Reich, but that misses the point. This is an important part of history, and we need to keep the memory alive to avoid repeating it. And this movie does a good job showing it. "NIA" certainly deserved Best Foreign Language Film.