Saturday, March 22, 2003

Nowhere in Africa (IMDB) (Netflix)
Kindof a "Little House on the Veldt," plus politics, both global and sexual. A Jewish couple and their young daughter quit pre-war Nazi Germany for Kenya to start a new life, where each adapts differently to the new surroundings and circumstances over the next dozen years. These personal changes create a myriad of stresses in the three relationships, particularly between husband and wife, less so with the kid, who naturally grows into the new world with aplomb and grace.

Maybe it's the angst-ridden times in which we live, but this film somehow dove under my skin in a hurry and tapped into a deeply buried vein of emotion, and is just now extracting itself. Aside from a few ill-advised camera moves, too-perfect natives and a tendency to overplay the more dramatic moments, there's a very human, endearing story of people in trying circumstances, and coping awkwardly with each other's maturation process. For good reason it's been nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar.