Nowhere in Africa is a film, directed by Caroline Link, dealing with a Jewish family who must move to Africa in the midst of World War I. The Redlich family, made up of Jettel, Walter, and Regina, struggles to adjust and to understand the definition of home. In 2002, it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, and it won much critical acclaim.
I have never seen a film less deserving of an Oscar, any Oscar, much less one that carries with it so much prestige. The family struggles to find their identity, but the film has none of its own identity of which it can speak. The direction especially lacks any creativity. It is merely a foreign film that extracts many elements from movies that are actually relevant, and then throws them together in one horrible, stinking mess.
The acting is decent, but it holds little emotion, so to the viewer it seems sloppy. Every scene stands alone, and seemingly has little or no connection to the scenes surrounding it. If the audience could get an idea of who these characters are and why they are struggling, they might be more affected by the anger and sadness that appears on screen. In fact, there are so many random outbreaks of anger and sadness that the film becomes an irrelevant soap opera with random nude scenes to catch the viewer's attention. The screenplay too is filled with disgustingly simple and phony lines that steal away any remaining dignity this film may have.
Yet there were two memorable aspects of this film: the music and the scenery. The music was not mind-blowing, but it was at least unique enough to make the film stand apart (other than it being the worst Foreign Film Oscar-Winner I have ever seen). The scenery truly was beautiful, but I would much rather view it in a magazine or on the Discovery Channel than ever have to watch this garbage again.
Still, people probably defend this movie, because there are people everywhere who defend Oscar no matter what travesties he commits. These defenders would hold up the music and the scenery (as I have done), but they would probably also attempt to defend the film as a socially-relevant statement regarding the identity of those swept away to foreign lands during World War II by Hitler's regime. They would say that the film shows the struggle of finding oneself amidst a foreign culture that has so many different traditions.
I would say that I would gladly watch a film that does these things well, or even at all. Nowhere in Africa is merely a pathetic attempt to bring these important questions to the screen, but answers to these questions or even an involved examination of them is nowhere to be found in this movie that lacks any emotion, coherence, relevance, and life.
Final Grade: D.
I have never seen a film less deserving of an Oscar, any Oscar, much less one that carries with it so much prestige. The family struggles to find their identity, but the film has none of its own identity of which it can speak. The direction especially lacks any creativity. It is merely a foreign film that extracts many elements from movies that are actually relevant, and then throws them together in one horrible, stinking mess.
The acting is decent, but it holds little emotion, so to the viewer it seems sloppy. Every scene stands alone, and seemingly has little or no connection to the scenes surrounding it. If the audience could get an idea of who these characters are and why they are struggling, they might be more affected by the anger and sadness that appears on screen. In fact, there are so many random outbreaks of anger and sadness that the film becomes an irrelevant soap opera with random nude scenes to catch the viewer's attention. The screenplay too is filled with disgustingly simple and phony lines that steal away any remaining dignity this film may have.
Yet there were two memorable aspects of this film: the music and the scenery. The music was not mind-blowing, but it was at least unique enough to make the film stand apart (other than it being the worst Foreign Film Oscar-Winner I have ever seen). The scenery truly was beautiful, but I would much rather view it in a magazine or on the Discovery Channel than ever have to watch this garbage again.
Still, people probably defend this movie, because there are people everywhere who defend Oscar no matter what travesties he commits. These defenders would hold up the music and the scenery (as I have done), but they would probably also attempt to defend the film as a socially-relevant statement regarding the identity of those swept away to foreign lands during World War II by Hitler's regime. They would say that the film shows the struggle of finding oneself amidst a foreign culture that has so many different traditions.
I would say that I would gladly watch a film that does these things well, or even at all. Nowhere in Africa is merely a pathetic attempt to bring these important questions to the screen, but answers to these questions or even an involved examination of them is nowhere to be found in this movie that lacks any emotion, coherence, relevance, and life.
Final Grade: D.