Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Nowhere in Africa Blu-ray Movie Review

Into Africa.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 28, 2018

There are some Academy Award winners for Best Foreign Language Film that have entered the annals of film legend and whose titles are recognized even by folks who perhaps haven’t even seen them. Films like Shoeshine, Bicycle Thieves, Rashomon, La strada, Nights of Cabiria, Black Orpheus, The Virgin Spring, 8½, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Day for Night, Cinema Paradiso, Life Is Beautiful, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are just a few of the international films which have brought home an Oscar prize and which in their own often quite radically different ways have helped to make clear just how global cinematic artistry can be. But the vagaries of film fame are as variable for films themselves as for anyone associated with them, and perhaps that’s one reason why Nowhere in Africa, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002 along with a bevy of other trophies, doesn’t seem to have achieved the same high profile as some of its more celebrated foreign language siblings. It’s especially sad given the fact that Nowhere in Africa presents a really unique story in an exotic and unusual location with the sort of historical specificity that has long been the hallmark of so called “prestige pictures”.

As 1937 gives way to 1938, life for Jews in Germany has become increasingly perilous. Though the film pretty much plops the viewer down in medias res without much context, the upshot is that former lawyer Walter Redlich (Merab Ninidze) has managed to get out of Germany and is attempting to begin a “second life” as a farmer in Kenya, though as the film begins he’s near death from malaria. Meanwhile, his wife Jettel (Juliane Köhler) and daughter Regina (played by Lea Kurka as a little girl, and then by Karoline Eckert) pretty much pretend life is continuing as normal in Germany, despite omnipresent signs that things are changing — for the worse. Jettel finally gets a letter from Walter summoning her and Regina to Kenya.

The first part of the film documents Jettel’s less than relaxed reaction to suddenly being thrust into the wild of the Kenyan bush, where there are no neighbors (Caucasian, anyway, and certainly no nearby Jews), and where she is perhaps understandably worried about both the health and socialization of Regina. Regina, on the other hand, is like most small children and more easily adapts to her new environment, quickly bonding with Owuor (Sidede Onyulo), an African cook and jack of all trades who had nursed Walter back to health and is both a help to the family on the farm as well as a kind of liaison to the larger African community surrounding them. The film makes the perhaps none too subtle point that initially Jettel dismisses the native Africans as a kind of sub-species, exactly the way Germans are currently treating Jews back in her own homeland.

In a way, it’s perhaps inevitable that some may compare certain plot elements in Nowhere in Africa with the probably much better remembered Out of Africa, especially in terms of its locale (Nairobi also figures into this film) and its emphasis on a perhaps spoiled Caucasian woman learning to adapt in the wilds of Kenya. There is in fact a similarity to the “learning curve” that Jettel undergoes with what is depicted vis a vis Karen Blixen in the other film, and, like Karen, Jettel does in fact become rather “fluent” in many aspects of African life, not just with regard to language. Perhaps saliently, Nowhere in Africa is, like Out of Africa, based on an autobiographical tome, in this case by Stefanie Zweig, and that "real life" ambience is very much present throughout the story.

As riveting as Jettel's "evolution" is, the emotional core of this story is undeniably Regina. An “adult” Regina narrates the film, offering a bit of context that the presentation itself doesn’t, but even ignoring that focusing element, the relationship between Regina and Owuor gives Nowhere in Africa a really remarkably heartfelt and deeply emotional ambience. The ongoing marital discord between Walter and Regina provides a backdrop of sorts, but Regina’s story is really one of fairly quick matriculation and lasting relationships, despite the fact that Jettel actually sends the girl off to an English boarding school part way through the film.

Nowhere in Africa provides a really fascinating peek into a perhaps under appreciated aspect of the “diaspora” caused by World War II. Though I kind of ironically found out a couple of years ago (after finally having an old letter in Yiddish translated) that I had relatives who escaped Germany for South Africa, I had frankly not even known about the Jewish contingents that ended up in such far flung places before I first saw Nowhere in Africa in the early 2000s. The film is a really vivid recreation of one family’s “escape route” and their slow trek toward reunification, both with each other and their native land, and it offers a palpable sense of time and place. Nowhere in Africa is a really moving story, beautifully told and evocatively filmed, and it really deserves to be a much better known film than it is.

Nowhere in Africa Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Nowhere in Africa is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is a slightly variable looking transfer, which is one reason I'm scoring it at 3.5, though there are moments that certainly push upwards toward what I would consider 4.0 territory. Damage is minimal, but the element looks slightly faded quite a bit of the time, with at least occasional anemia in the palette and with a tendency for things to skew toward brown tones (even above and beyond built in aspects of the location and production design). That said, other moments, especially some of the brightly lit outdoor scenes in Kenya, offer really vivid blue skies and some decently green foliage. Certain pops of color, like the various sweaters that Regina wears, can also look quite nicely saturated. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation, but a few isolated shots (mostly wide vistas) had a slightly sharpened look to them to my eyes.

Nowhere in Africa Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Nowhere in Africa features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks in the original German (some isolate characters speak English, and there's a smattering of languages like Swahili in play as well). The surround track is quite winning, especially in its broad placement of the percussion heavy score by Niki Reiser. Ample ambient environmental sounds also dot the surround channels regularly in the many outdoor moments, and even in more "cultured" environments like the hotel Jettel and Regina are sent to. Dialogue, including Regina's narration, is always rendered cleanly and with smart prioritization on this problem free track.

Nowhere in Africa Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (480i; 10:21) are presented windowboxed, with middling video quality.


• Interviews include:

  Caroline Link, Peter Herrmann and Stefanie Zweig (480i; 31:33)

  Sidede Onyulo (480i; 8:31)

  Merab Ninindze (480i; 19:28)

  Juliane Kohler (480i; 20;31)

  Matthias Habich (480i; 17:24)

• Making of Documentary (480i; 28:36) offers quite a few snippets from the film along with some good behind the scenes footage and interviews.


• Storyboard Comparison (480i; 2:57)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 2:21)


• German Trailer (1080p; 3:14)

Nowhere in Africa Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Nowhere in Africa is a rare film that gives a rather pointed history lesson while also offering a really intimate portrait of one family, and one little girl in particular. It was a real pleasure revisiting this film again after several years, and I found it a peculiarly life affirming experience despite some of the troubling issues it raises. Technical merits are good (video) to excellent (audio), and the supplemental package, while mostly in SD, is also extremely interesting, especially the interview which includes Stefanie Zweig. Highly recommended.