Nowhere in Africa

It's 1938 and five-year-old Regina Redlich (Kurka, later Eckertz) is leaving Breslau with her mother (Köhler) for a remote farm in Kenya, where her father, a prominent lawyer, has secured the job of manager. Based on Stephanie Zweig's novel about a German Jewish family fleeing the Holocaust, Caroline Link's Oscar-winning feature is carefully balanced between charting the African experiences of a wide-eyed child and those of her more ambivalent parents. Regina's beautifully drawn friendship with the Masai cook Owuor (Onyulo) provides a delicate link with and insights into the country's culture, while news of war reminds us of the chaos Germany has unleashed in Europe. The film is balanced and moving, and through the experiences of one family explores what it is to be an outsider - at home as well as abroad. All the performances are powerful, giving the film a warmth that is complemented by Gernot Roll's ravishing camerawork.