Nowhere in Africa: Feelings of Belonging and Nationality

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  What does it mean to belong to a country? What does it mean to be a citizen of a nation and feel the feeling of belonging that comes with being it? These questions form the thematic core of the movie Nowhere in Africa, the story of a Jewish family living in Germany before the holocaust that is forced to move to Africa to ensure their safety. The film deals with the family’s continuing marital problems and, more importantly, the sense of estrangement (or lack thereof) that they feel from their Heimat-or homeland- (Elley).

            As the film begins the viewer is greeted by a tranquil opening scene of a boy riding his bicycle through the barren landscape that he calls his home. The scene is bullet holed by scenes of a snowy Germany and is followed by a scene showing Jettel, Regina, and the rest of their family living a posh, high class lifestyle. This contrast between the two countries that the characters will call Home sets the stage for the theme of the movie. This family will eventually be residents of two fundamentally different nations that will never really accept them; a holocaust stricken Germany, unsympathetic to the Jewish citizens, and a British ruled Africa that sees the family as German citizens and enemies, despite their Jewish background and their Heimat’s feelings towards them.

            When Regina and Jettel commence their move to Africa they are beset with homesickness before they even leave the country. The quickly evaporating sense of nationality that other Jews fleeing the country are feeling (and even that Jettel’s Husband is feeling) does not seem to be felt by Jettel. She buys an expensive dress for 45 marks and she and Regina have cheesecake at a café before they board the ship bound for Africa. Showing that Jettel may have not fully grasped the severity of their predicament, they are beginning a new life in Africa and as such they will have to live as tenant farmers in squalor. Those 45 marks that they spent could have gone a long way to making them comfortable in their new environment.

             Regina and Jettel arrive in Africa and it becomes clear that Jettel does not view their stay there as a permanent one, or even as stay that should be valued. Again we are shown that Jettel still bears a firm love for her native Germany even as she unpacks the family’s china and picture frames and puts them up around the ramshackle tenant farming house that she must now call her home. It becomes clear that Jettel has no intention of staying in Africa, and views their situation as a temporary one. Jettel shows no respect for her new home country or its people; she treats the family cook Owuor more as a servant than an extended member of her family. “Learn German if you want to talk to me,” she tells him with an air of superiority. Her superior nature obviously comes from her previous life as an upper class citizen of Germany. Her persistent superior attitude reveals another connection to her Heimat that exposes her reluctance to become a part of Africa’s nation.

                        Regina and her father, however, seem to have all but lost interest in Germany and its rejection of their peoples. Walter has come to terms with the fact that, had they chosen to stay in Germany, he and his family would have met an untimely end, and Regina is simply too young at this point to know any better, or perhaps she is just as resilient as she seems to be. Walter focuses his efforts on being a tenant farmer and rejoices at being alive while Regina becomes attached to Owuor, throwing away the stigma that Jettel seems to hold for Africa and its people. The opening scene between Regina and Owuor seems to foreshadow the way that Regina will react to the struggles that confront her in her life. Critic Mark Halverson puts it this way:

Regina adapts to the transition. Her first meeting with their cook Owuor is a transcendental moment for both her and the film. Regina’s resiliency and imagination impress fellow farmer Susskind, who has taken Walter under his wing. “You have a great future here,” he says. “You are already talking like a Negro.”

Regina’s adaptation skills and her acceptance and curiosity for the African Culture is displayed frequently throughout the feature, opposed to her mother’s inability to adjust. Regina, who has immediately upon arrival become friends with the native children, is invited to a festival for the local peoples’ god, during which they will sacrifice a calf. Closed minded as always her mother is against the idea of her going to a local festival, instantly denies her the privilege of going. Jettel also warns Regina against going into the huts of the villagers, for she believes the villagers are dirty and that Regina might bring back a nasty disease. Later on in the film Jettel has the chance to go to one of these festivals with her daughter and she finally sees for herself the beauty of the culture around her as she slowly begins to acknowledge and respect it. Perhaps that is the meaning of nationality, acknowledgement and respect of culture.

The film progresses more, as does the war in Germany. The family is interned for being “enemy agents”, Walter and the other German men are taken to an internment camp and surprisingly Regina and Jettel are taken to a classy hotel and they stay there for what is assumed to be months. Internment seems to mark the turning point for Jettel with regards to her acceptance of the country they inhabit. Jettel, having accepted the life that the family is to lead in Africa, secures her husband a job managing a farm through an affair with a British soldier. Jettel’s efforts to get Walter a job can be seen as her recognition that they are going to be staying in Africa for a very long time, and she might as well treat it as her home.

            The family moves once again, this time to a large farm where they become the “bwana” (masters), Regina is sent to a British school. Regina’s being sent to a British school represents another form of belonging, or rejection of belonging, of a nationality. Periodically throughout the film it is shown that Regina does not like the English, and that they do not like her. Her headmaster is blatantly anti-Semitic and she refers to one of her classmates as “A fat English cow”. Regina’s rejection of both Germany and England provide insight into her way of dealing with the state of her life, which is perhaps much more mature than her parents’. The role of Regina in the film seems to be that of a backdrop against which viewers can gage the reactions and the actions of Walter and Jettel. In the words of reviewer Kam Williams:

“This story of involuntary escape, narrated from Regina’s point of view, shows her faring far better at adapting to the rigors of the region than either of her parents. It is told against the backdrop of an alternately breathtaking and barren savanna, and populated with unquestionably authentic indigenous peoples.”

            A reversal of roles occurs somewhere towards the end of the film. Jettel, though it has taken time, has adapted and has begun to enjoy her life in Africa. Walter on the other hand has joined the British army and fights against the Nazis. After the war Walter is intent on moving back to Germany, to the country that rejected him and forced him to flee. Regina, being the mature beyond her year’s child that she has been through the film accepts her father’s decision, but Jettel adamantly rejects the idea as ridiculous. How could Walter want to go back to that broken and hateful country that denounced their religion and people as eradication worthy?

            Perhaps being a citizen of a country means to be a contributing member of the community; in which case Jettel would not have fit the description to any degree, while Walter and Regina would have been the epitome of the perfect Citizen of Africa. What does it mean to belong to a Community? Respect of the culture and of the peoples and contribution to both would surely be a functional definition. Indeed, as the family’s stay in Africa becomes longer and longer, they become more and more involved with the people around them, making friends and forging relationships that will surely stick with them for the rest of their lives. Surely a deep emotional attachment to a country is enough to make one a member of the community.

The shining question is “why does it matter?”  Perhaps the answer lies lower than base definitions, perhaps being a member of a community or a citizen of a country is personal. A sense of belonging and being comfortable in your surroundings, respecting the peoples and views of those people is in all probability more important than simple words like Citizenship or Community.

Works Cited

Global Rhythm. 30 Jan. 2006. Web. 18 Oct. 2009. <http://www.globalrhythm.net/Film/NowhereinAfrica.cfm>.

Sacramento News and Review. 1 May 2003. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=14892>.

Variety. 1 Mar. 2002. Web. 16 Oct. 2002. <http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117917116.html?categoryid=31&cs=1>.