Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika)

"Nowhere in Africa" (German: "Nirgendwo in Afrika") is an absolutely wonderful film. It was released in late 2001 in Europe and in late 2002 in the United States. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is in German, but with very good subtitles, so please don't let that stop you from missing this great picture. The main characters are a German-Jewish family (the Redlichs) of husband ("Walter," played by Merab Ninidze), wife ("Jettel," pronounced as if "Yettel," as German "J" is pronounced like English "Y," played by Juliane Köhler) and little girl ("Regina," pronounced like "re-geenah," played by Lea Kurka as a young child and by Karoline Eckertz as a teenager), and their Kenyan cook ("Owuor," played by Sidede Onyulo), who really becomes a part of their family. The movie is based on a book by the same name written by Stefanie Zweig, the real life name of the little girl, with many of her real life experiences incorporated into the book. The DVD, available in the U.S., has an interview segment with Stefanie Zweig, who is now about 80 years old (UPDATE: Stefanie Zweig passed away in the spring of 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany, age 81). There is much to this movie, but here are a few things:

What would you do if your homeland were turned into hell? That's the first question of the movie. Germany, the homeland of the Redlich family, has been taken over by the Nazis, who are turning it into a living hell for German Jews and others.* Walter Redlich leaves Germany in 1937 to take a low income job managing a farm in Kenya, an East African nation, then under British rule. He doesn't want to leave his homeland, and he had been an attorney, but survival demands it. He later sends for his wife and young daughter, but he can never convince his father, his sister and his in-laws to leave too, as they believe the Nazi terror will all soon pass. Walter is living on the farm with a tall, thin Kenyan named "Owuor," who is an employee of the English owner. Walter and Owuor become close friends and Owuor begins to teach Walter the local language, Swahili, as Owuor speaks no German. When Regina meets Owuor he picks her up and hugs her and she feels his hair, which is different from her own. This scene is the scene that sticks with me about the picture and it comes into play again later. Jettel is then shown sitting and admiring the scenery when a young Kenyan boy runs up behind her and feels her hair to the delight of his friends. While Regina and Owuor become almost inseparable and he teaches her the language and customs of the local people, which she wholeheartedly welcomes, Jettel misses Germany, her family and familiar surroundings and wants to return "home." She often snaps at Owuor when he tries to help her understand the local customs and she once tells him to learn German if he wants to talk to her (remember, she's in HIS country). She and Walter begin to quarrel, but Walter has been given a radio by another German Jewish farmer who left Germany right when the Nazis took power in 1933, and he has heard the news on a Swiss German station of the infamous "Kristallnacht," a night of terror for Germany's Jews, as Nazi thugs burned and looted synagogues and Jewish shops, beat and arrested Jews, with some Jews being killed. In one argument between Walter and Jettel, he tells her that her treatment of Owuor is awful and comparable to some people back in Germany to whom she would not want to be compared. All of this begins to sink in with Jettel and she finally begins to adopt to her new home.

When the war begins, the British send troops to arrest the male German/German Jewish residents, as they are "enemy aliens;" sort of a supreme irony, as the Nazis had revoked the citizenship of its Jews. They finally release Walter, but he's lost his job, as the British farm owner says he can't have an enemy alien running the farm. Walter and Jettel get another farm job and Owuor tracks them down to join them. The couple send Regina to a British run "white" school. The first day at an assembly, the headmaster tells all Jews to move to the side of the room so that the rest of the students can say a Christian prayer. Later, as Regina does very well in her classes, the headmaster calls her into his office, where, upon her entering he says, "So you're the little Jewish girl." He then wants to know why she is learning so well, to which Regina responds that her father has little money and can't afford for her to fail, so she studies hard. The headmaster then wants to know if it is some Jewish custom to always want to talk about money. So, even in Kenya, far from the Nazis, and among some  "supposed" Christians, anti-Jewish sentiment and bigotry is present.

Both Walter and Jettel receive letters from "home," which stirs their anxiety about the safety of their families back in Germany. Jettel's mother later tells her that she's being "sent to Poland," and Walter tells Jettel it is a virtual death sentence. This sets off a fit of denial by Jettel, but Walter tells her that at least she's lucky in a way, and that he suffers every day, because he doesn't know what has happened to his father and sister. (He finds out later, but I'll let you see the movie for the answer.) Regina becomes a young teenager and asks her mother why people hate Jews so much. Jettel, now fully acclimated to Kenya, tells her that some people can't accept differences in others, but that Africa has taught her that differences are good and that it would be silly if we were all the same.

Walter joins the British Army to find some sort of purpose in his life at that time; a way of striking back at Hitler and the Nazis. When the war ends, Walter is offered a judgeship in Germany, and he and the family must now decide if they want to leave "home" again, for their former "home," filled with so many memories, including the memory of hatred by the Nazis. I'll end it there, so as not to spoil things, but I hope you'll watch this superb film which will leave you feeling good. If you know an "Archie Bunker," have them watch this film. We can't change the world all at once, but we can change it one person at a time.

* The film uses Regina as a sometimes narrator and she tells early on that her father had been an attorney, but that the Nazis then forbid Jews to hold positions in various professions, thus depriving Jews of their means of earning a living. 

Photo is of the Columbia Tristar Special Edition (2 disc) DVD   

WORD HISTORY:
Churl (Churlish)-This word, closely related to the names "Carl/Karl/Charles," is no longer a common word, at least in America, although its adjective form "churlish" is still used. The ancient origin of "churl" is uncertain, but Old Germanic had "karlaz/karilaz," which meant " grown man, mature man." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "ceorl," which had numerous meanings tied to "man/male," like "male peasant, common man, layman, husband." This then became "cherl," before the modern version. The adjective "churlish" in Old English was "cierlisc," and simply meant "having to do with churls." The idea of "peasant or rustic behavior" as opposed to "educated, refined behavior" led to its meaning "rude, surly behavior or disposition," the meaning which still exists today. The other Germanic relatives of "churl" are: German "Kerl," which means "guy, fellow;" Low German Saxon "Keerl" (also guy, fellow); Dutch "kerel" (man, fellow); West Frisian "tsjirl" (guy, fellow); Icelandic and Swedish "karl" (husband, man); Danish "karl" (male farm worker, guy); and Norwegian "kar" (man, guy, fellow).