Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika)
Directed and adapted by Caroline Link from Stephanie Zweig’s autobiographical novel of the same name, Nowhere in Africa tells the story of a well-to-do German Jewish family who flee the Nazis by going to live and work on a farm in rural Kenya.
A successful lawyer in his former life, Walter Redlich (Merab Ninidze) throws himself into his new role as farm manager, which involves much toil for little pay. Courteous and friendly, he quickly gains the locals’ respect. Not so his beautiful, snobbish wife Jettel (Juliane Köhler), who makes no effort to hide her contempt for Kenya and its backward ways. She treats the farm cook, Owuor (Sidede Onyulo), like a servant when he sees himself as a professional, and insults him by asking him to carry water, a job reserved for women in his tribe.
We are introduced to her and the couple’s young daughter Regina (Lea Kurka as the child and Karoline Eckertz as the teenager) when they are living the high-life in Frankfurt. Clad in furs and pearls, Jettel is in her element as the elegant hostess who throws lavish parties for her wide circle of friends. Hearing rumours of persecution, Walter has already moved to East Africa to prepare a home for his family. In a letter, he requests that Jettel “bring a refrigerator, which we will really need, and not our china or anything like that.” Instead she fritters the money away on a ball gown.
Jettel’s frivolity and dissatisfaction puts a huge strain on the Redlichs’ marriage. Even Walter does not shape up to her exacting expectations now he’s merely a humble farmer, and their sex life dwindles. “You only let me under your shirt when I’m a lawyer,” he complains one time when she rebuffs his advance.
The Redlichs’ status as Jews, Germans and white people creates some interesting tensions. Regina (who is also the narrator) immediately settles in to African life, befriending the local children and learning the language almost overnight. Ironically, her race first attracts attention when she attends a British boarding school and, as a Jew, is made to stand to the side while the other children recite the Lord’s Prayer. When war is declared, the Redlichs are rounded up as enemy aliens by the British along with other German expats - ironic, considering it was this very enemy that the family was trying to escape. Jettels’ brief fling with a British officer gets Walter a place on a larger farm, but serves to widen further the emotional divide between her and her husband.
Although the news arriving from home is terrible - all the members of Jettel’s family are sent to concentration camps - the Holocaust is treated only cursorily. The film is more concerned with the way in which Jettel, Walter and Regina engage with their immediate situation, and with each other. Interestingly, Jettel develops a deep attachment to Africa, while her husband is keen to return to Germany after the war. Only Regina is consistent in her unrivalled devotion to the continent.
Nowhere in Africa is an intelligent and moving film that explores the tensions that arise when refugees are forced to live in a country with vastly different values and living standards to their own. The visuals are stunning, capturing both the sweeping expanse of desert and the cramped hut where the family spend their nights.
