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Escaping from the Nazis to Kenya in 1938, German Jew Walter Redlich (Merab Ninidze) goes from high-flying lawyer to jobbing farm caretaker. He then ships his family over, introducing wife Jettel (Juliane Köhler) and daughter Regina (Karoline Eckertz) to life among the German émigrés and native Africans. It's a difficult adjustment. Jettel brings crockery, ball gowns and prejudice towards the "dirty" natives, while Regina discovers a new sense of freedom in the sprawling savannah.
Director Caroline Link's Oscar-nominated adaptation of a true story is certainly gorgeous, but scratch beneath the shiny cinematography and you'll find the usual Out Of Africa clichés of noble savages, panoramic landscapes and budding sexuality. Fortunately though, Link smoothes the rough edges with a rousing soundtrack and some ironic comments about the bigotry that arises out of being a stranger in a strange land.
Yet that's not enough to turn this drama into anything more than enjoyable but lightweight - picture-postcard fluff.
NO VERDICT
