Good Example Of Essay On Movie Analysis Of Nowhere In Africa

The film Nowhere in Africa by Caroline Link tells the story of a German Jewish family that relocates to Kenya after the persecution of Jews broke out in Germany. Walter, who is the husband of the family first relocates and is later joined by his wife Jettel and daughter Regina. The family moves from a life of comfort in Frankfurt to a remote place called Rongai, somewhere in Africa. She loved jewelry, luxuries, and beautiful clothes and was very elegant, befitting the status of the wife of an accomplished lawyer. But things are never the same again because they all end up in a farm, where Walter acts as a foreman; and the family has to reconcile with the fate of having to live a life different from what they were used to back at home. The film presents the sensation of changing lifestyles, and how the family each perceives the experience differently.
The family has to adapt to a new way of life, their old life is sharply contrasted to their new situation in Africa. Every aspect of the movie stays true to the theme as it is well acted out. Its rich photography constructs two different worlds contrasting each other, perhaps to help bring out their sharp contrasts as the story builds up towards its culmination. Its geographical dislocation brings out its epic side, that inites a historical trauma created at the very mention of the holocaust. But he family has a way of making the transition difficult and smooth at the same time just like the viewer expects it. Walter resigns to his new life ad even gives away the gown he used as a lawyer back home, and acknowledged that he no longer needs to use his brain. Jettel, on the other hand, is already tired of eating slop and needs meat. Regina, on the other hand, likes the place already and even likes Owuor even more. Each one of them has a different perspective on their new life, and as the storyline continues, one gets easily absorbed in the dramatic intricacies that surround the family and their relationship with the community.
Kenya was a British colony and in the presence of Germans who the British perceived as enemies further complicates the story line. Notable is when the family is rounded up by the British and taken to Nairobi, the expected ill-treatment the family is supposed to receive further gives the film a new twist. As it turns out, they are aliens in Kenya and are not welcome, at least for the British. But the natives view them as whites because they judged them by the color of their skin. The conflicting viewership of the three perspectives here, the African, German/Jew and British helps bring out the tension that was experienced during the scramble, partition and colonization of Africa in the 20th century. When these three groups are put together in this film, it becomes apparent that there is a message that is intended for the audience; in as much as the skin tone may have been similar; the whites too have their differences the natives could not tell.
The family portrays conflicting interests that perhaps bring forth their different personalities. Walter is keen on having a refrigerator brought to Kenya, but his wife would rather have a fancy evening dress. Husband and wife have a series of domestic problems that strain their marriage. While Walter and Regina have fitted in so well, Jettel is withdrawn, hates her new life and treats the natives badly. Her behavior is characteristic of anyone taken out of their comfort zones and taken somewhere to start up a new life that is worse off than her initial life. At the same time, her ill treatment of the natives brings forth her personal problems, and it is her frustrations that are making her behave that way.
The good thing is that the film does not dwell so much on the holocaust in as much it is the holocaust that drives it. Jettel’s surviving family members back in Germany are deported, and that is about it about the holocaust, but the viewer can feel its heavy presence from the beginning to the end. Even in Africa, the Jews are receiving as ill treatment as they were receiving back at home. They are rounded up and taken to the city. Men and women are separated from each other, a clear depiction of what was happening back in Germany. At the same time, Regina and a few other Jewish children are instructed to leave their desks and stand nearby as the rest of the students say the Lord’s Prayer.
The film is as interesting just as it is very informative. The happenings of this family in their immediate surroundings, in Germany and Kenya put them at a disadvantaged end. But in the end, there is something positive coming to them. Ironically, Walter grows to love Africa less while Jettel loves it more, and Regina has always loved it. Jettel’s perception of Africa changes and Regina is still in love with a native. There is a ray of hope as the family leaves for their homeland that life will be back to normal. They have to start a new chapter in their lives, but again, they have to find a purpose for leaving and living. The overall theme, music, location of its setting presents a well thought and told story that tells history in a very good way.