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Refuge from the Reich Nowhere in Africa tells the story of a family's life in Kenya after fleeing Germany. by Sue Garson Stefanie Zweig was born in Upper Silesia in 1932 to a well-educated family of professionals who spoke Hoch Deutsch, who identified with German culture and society, and whose cultural icons were Schiller and Goethe. Although they happened to be born Jewish, their comfortable, pampered lives didn't particularly reflect any religious observance. In 1938, the 6-year-old Stefanie fled with her parents to Kenya as a result of the Nazi persecution of Jews. In retrospect, they left just in time. On Hitler's birthday, April 20, 1938, they arrived in Nairobi before traveling on into the hinterlands. Stefanie Zweig's father, who had been a lawyer of some prominence in Germany, contracted malaria while he worked as a tenant farmer on an arid, isolated, sun-drenched African plain. When he recovered, he earned barely enough to finance his daughter's education. In 1944, the father enlisted in the British Army, which enabled him and his family to return to Germany after the war ended. Today, Stefanie Zweig is a journalist living in Frankfurt. Based on the first of her two best-selling autobiographical novels (published in 1995), Nowhere in Africa was one of the highest grossing films in Germany in 2002. It won best foreign language film at this year's Oscars as well as five German Film Awards including best picture and best director. Nowhere in Africa is a sweeping historical saga that spans across "civilized" Europe and "uncivilized" Africa, contrasting scenes of the snowy, sinister Third Reich and its swastikas hanging from tall gray buildings with remote, sun-drenched outposts in Kenya, circa World War II. The film's 38-year-old director Caroline Link carefully avoids Holocaust film fatigue [NICE PHRASE] by presenting fresh images that we have not seen before. She wisely focuses not on the war but on the juxtaposition of life in Germany and life in Kenya and of the stress of cultural displacement. By showing what the Holocaust meant for people who left Europe early enough to survive but who still suffered terribly because they had to leave their homes, their lives, and their loved ones behind, we get an insight into their life-altering but life-affirming decisions. The character that plays the young Stefanie Zweig immediately embraces the country, learns the local language and customs and loves the exotic animals, the view of Mount Kenya, and the land and the sky that seemingly go on forever. She takes easily to the wonders of life on a farm and to the hot climate, as well as to the fun-loving new playmates in the village. The farm's cook becomes a beloved friend, emphasizing what we already know about the adaptability of children to new and very different environments. "At first, the parents fared less well. The sheltered hausfrau/mother speaks haughtily to the locals, is appalled by the bleak conditions, the drought, and the lack of meat; she covets the Rosenthal china she brought from Germany, china that was essential to the life they had left behind but is useless in this isolated part of Africa. In fact, the fragility of the Rosenthal china is the perfect metaphor for the fragility of life left behind; swarms of locusts attacking rugged cornfields represent the new life. |
 The mother is initially the least sympathetic character. And as the war rages on the European continent, the trio's relationships to their safe haven and to each other become increasingly complicated. The wife, no longer pampered and protected, grows more self-assured whereas the idealistic husband becomes increasingly haunted by the life they left behind. The chasm between the parents widens and the marriage seems irreparably strained due in part to the wife's pragmatic alliances. The adage that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger is evidenced most in the mother who, after mastering control over harsh conditions in Africa, becomes a strong, centered, emancipated woman of great compassion and maturity. Her metamorphosis is fascinating to behold, particularly as she and the rest of the family becomes fluent in Swahili and begin to truly care about the land and the people. At that point, Africa, that harsh yet beautiful refuge for the dispossessed, becomes lyrically hypnotic. Because it is based solely on the refugee experience, Nowhere in Africa presents a refreshing twist in the vast compendium of Holocaust films, in that it uses the Holocaust as emotional backdrop. The Holocaust never takes over - not even when we learn the ultimate fate of all the other family members left behind. Although other critics have written that the running time of 141 minutes would have benefited from sharper editing, I have seen Nowhere in Africa twice and could have watched even more of it. Now I'm inspired to read Stefanie Zweig's second autobiographical novel, Nowhere In Germany, which chronicles the family's return in 1947 to the postwar chaos of their homeland after spending nine years in Africa. In Nowhere to Africa, we don't witness Nazi brutality. There are no concentration camp scenes. The Zweigs saw the handwriting on the wall and acted on it. Even so, the displacement was emotionally, financially, and physically wrenching and the political maneuvering even to get an ordinary job is heartbreaking to watch. The film achieves what all historical films should aspire to. Nowhere in Africa When: Opens Friday, April 4 Where: Landmark La Jolla Village Cinemas, 8879 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla For more information, call (858) 453-7831. |
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