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Bookmark this pageSleeping Sickness (2011)
Director: Ulrich Köhler
Movie review
From Time Out Online
Similarities to the clammy dreamscapes of Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul as well as the colonial cautionary tales of Claire Denis abound in this enigmatic diptych from German director Ulrich Köhler. On a superficial level, the film is set in and around the world of medicine and concerns the efforts of a devil-may-care, Cameroon-based foreign aid worker (Pierre Bokma) to cure a sleeping sickness pandemic in the region. He’s successful in his assignment, but swiftly rejects western values and transforms into a violent rogue when a Parisian administrator arrives to inform him that his funding will cease now the disease has been cured. A contemporary ‘Heart of Darkness’ it may be, but Köhler’s film also acts as a vital discussion point over the paradoxes of financial assistance, the difficulties of addressing individual problems when legislating for the masses, and the West’s distorted view of African society. Extremely impressive.Author: David Jenkins
Time Out Online London Film Festival 2011
Cast & crew
Director: Ulrich Köhler
Cast: Pierre Bokma, Jean-Christophe Folly, Jenny Schilly, Hippolyte Girardot
Genre(s): Drama
Duration: 91 mins
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