Page 10
The Behrend Beacon
Women's International Film Series
'Nowhere in Africa' tells a different Holocaust story
review by Daniel J. Stasiewski
managing editor
"Schindler's List" made it damn near
impossible for any film about the Ger
man atrocities during World Wawr 11 to
compete emotionally with the 1993 Ho
locaust epic. "The Pianist" couldn't do
it. HBO's "Band of Brothers" couldn't
do it. "Jakob the Liar" wasn't even close,
and most documentaries are hardly as
affecting as Spielberg's masterpiece.
"Nowhere in Africa" doesn't try to
compete, and it succeeds because it tells
a different story with the same arduous
details, the same humanity and none of
the directness. The distance is geographi
cal, forcing the characters to sometimes
live like prisoners. However, the human
emotions of loss, loneliness and defeat
are as vivid in this film as in any film
that shows the bodies being piled into
mass graves. "Nowhere in Africa" relies
on the commitment to its characters in
order to share its artistic vision of this true
story.
The film is told mostly from the per
spective of a child who must move with
her mother to Africa in order to avoid the
fate that awaits many of their Jewish
brethren. At a 1938 New Year's party,
Jettel Redlich (Juliane Kohler) receives
a message from her husband, Walter
'Eternal Sunshine'
Is eternal bliss
Jim Carrey brightens up Kate Winslet's life in "Eternal Sunshine."
review by Daniel J. Stasiewski
managing editor
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is as
enduring and surreal as the relationship in the film.
Its a romantic comedy that could only come from
the eccentric mind of writer Charlie Kaufman, but
like Kaufman's other efforts ("Being John
Malkovich - ), this film becomes convoluted as it
tries to be too clever. Luckily, there are enough
beautifully effervescent moments from the delight
ful and poignant romance to make us fall in love,
despite the flaws.
The film heginswith Joel (Jim Carrey) and
Clementine (Kate Winslet) falling in love—for a
second time. Anyone who has seen the trailer knows
Joel and Clementine had the memories of their first
go-around erased, but they have managed to make
it hack to each other.
Flashback. Joel crying in his car after he tries to
give Clementine an "I'm sorry" present. The
scrappy, working class romantic finds comfort in
two of his friends, a perpetually embattled couple
(Jane Adams and David Cross), who tell him of
Clementine's procedure. Joel and Clem had a hit
of a spat, but the impulsive sweetheart took it too
far. She probably did it on a lark, they tell him.
Because the clash was so sudden, Joel needs to see
the memory-erasers himself. He goes to the of
fices of Lucuna Inc. and once he sees memory eras
ing really is possible, Joel signs on to eliminate
Clementine.
The majority of the film takes place inside Joel's
mind. We see the memories fade. Faces become
distorted. Buildings fall-apart. Books disappear
off of shelves. As Joel, who is unconscious through
the procedure, revisits his own memories of
Clementine, he realizes that the old adage "Tis bet
ter to have love and 105 t..." is a universal truth.
His dream-state becomes a race in and out of memo
ries that don't involve Clementine so he preserves
a part of their relationship, somewhere in his mind.
Going inside Joel's head is a voyeuristic experi
(Merab Ninidze), telling her that the Jew
ish community in Nairobi has put up the
money for the woman and her daughter
to come to Africa. Jettel is a socialite in
her German household. She considers
herself to be German, not Jewish. She
has German friends and loves the Ger
man culture. For her, being Jewish isn't
a large part of her life.
The Nazis won't see it that way, and
Walter knows it. He tells his wife to bring
their little Regina (Lea Kurka) and ne
cessities for life (a fridge) to the Kenyan
farm he now works at so they can be
saved from the inevitable. Jettel leaves
her family and goes to her husband.
Jettel, however, doesn't see the Nazi re
gime as a threat and leaves behind the
fridge to save her fine china. Her denial
strains her marriage, once in Kenya, but
her daughter begins to assimilate to the
life.
Regina befriends the family's loyal
cook, Owuor, and learns the language,
but her mother discourages the behavior.
"A white child is not a black child," Jettel
tells her daughter, preparing Regina for
a return to some level of normalcy. That
doesn't happen, and once her husband
informs her of the German looting of Jew
ish shops, Jettel begins to realize the true
horror that faces Germany.
Jettel is a fascinating character, and
ence, more so than just simply watching a couple's
external film life. And Carrey makes us feel wel
come. The performance is his best since "Man on
the Moon" and with only that exception, his best
ever on film. It's a droopy, bittersweet performance
that doesn't back away from the intimate moments,
moments he's never had a chance to take on in any
other role.
Unfortunately for Carrey. Winslet steals the show.
It's an equally unique performance for Winslet, but
her spunk and spontaneity is more than what her
character or even director Michel Gondry might
have asked for. She's refreshing, and changes the
entire tone of the film with the line "Nobody's ever
given me a piece of jewelry I liked before."
"Chemistry" isn't the word I would use to de
scribe what Winslet and Carrey had in this film,
though. The romance is too sincere to use a term
reserved for what Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Feinnes
had in "Maid in Manhattan." Only David Gordon
Greene's "All the Real Girls" takes a more honest
look at working-class love and heartbreak, though
"All the Real Girls" isn't bogged down by Charlie
Kaufman's quirkiness.
In the end, the relationship between two back
ground characters emphasizes the film's core.
I'm not talking about what Kirsten Dunst and her
lover have. (That sub-plot was a Kaufman's ma
jor screenwriting downfall.) No, the perpetually
embattled couple mentioned above serves as the
example of a real relationship in the film. They
fight, but you know they love each other in spite
of the their squabbles and aggravations. That's
what Joel sees when he's forced to relive his
moments with Clementine, and that honesty, that
look at the imperfection of true love, is what
stands out.
la " Eterna l Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind," directed
out of by Michel Gondry, is
currently showing at
4 stars Tinseltown.
a a.•
Friday, March 26, 2004
despite the fact that the daughter, a child,
is telling the story, Jettel's conflict is a
brilliantly constructed, subtly and effec
tively. She has her own racism in Africa,
so strong that her husband takes her to
task on it. "The way you treat Owuor
reminds me of some people in Germany,"
he tells her at the end of an argument.
Kohler's portrayal of Jettel is quiet and
sympathetic, though the character can be
as insensitive as the men at Nuremburg.
The film, however, tells the daughter's
story, though she is often treated like sup
porting character. She doesn't face the
same anti-Semitism that her parents saw
back home. By the end of the film she
says she doesn't even remember Ger
many. She is innocent, but never naive,
making childish observations about the
treatment that she receives at an English
school once her family is forced from the
farm. Interestingly enough, Regina is
more out of place with those Europeans
than the Africans.
I loved the characters in this film, and
by the end I felt like a personal confi
dante. The actors get their due because
they are on screen, but without director
Caroline Link creating an intimate style,
Regina and Jettel could have seemed
more naive than delicate. Even the fa
ther, who wears his emotions on his
sleeves, isn't overwhelming because
`Dawn' rises to
the occassio
review by Daniel J. Stasiewski
managing editor
The main reason I hated George A. Romero's
1978 version of "Dawn of the Dead" was the film,
despite the cheesy makeup and ridiculous act
ing, took itself seriously. It didn't have the psy
chological horror elements of its predecessor
"Night of the Living Dead," and the so-called
critique of consumerism never pans out because
"Dawn" was too chintzy of a production to af
fect the audience in any real way.
In the bigger-budget remake, seriousness is
hardly what director Zack Snyder is going for.
"Dawn of the Dead," Version 2, has a perverse
sense of humor and even more sadistic sense of
gore. It's a film with a B-movie sensibility but
an A-movie budget, and the 2004 "Dawn" is a
scream because of it. The make-up is better. The
acting is solid. This "Dawn" is just fun as hell.
Like the original, "Dawn of the Dead" takes
place in a shopping mall, where survivors of
walking dead attack find safe-ish haven. There's
Ana (Sarah Polley), the nurse; Kenneth (Ving
Rhames), the cop; Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and
Luda (Inna Korobkina), the expecting couple; and
Michael (Jake Weber), the copy machine repair
man—all with enough brains to make a radio out
of a coconut. Inside they meet their share of left
over zombies from the janitorial staff, but they
also meet C.J. (Michael Kelly) and his security
crew, who attempt to turn the mall into a police
That doesn't last long, especially when Terry
(Kevin Zegers), the crew's youngest member,
goes over to the side of the cop and the nurse.
From there it's routine. They play with the toys
in the mall. They shoot some zombies. They
bring some other survivors. They deliver a zom
bie baby. Routine.
"Dawn of the Dead" is your usual horror flick,
but it's splashed with style and humor that is
makes the illogical and disposable plot entertain
ing. One scene has a shooting game that requires
the assassination of zombies that double as ce
lebrity look-alikes. Jay Leno, Burt Reynolds and
Rosie O'Donnell are all killed by a guy who kind
of looks likes Ted Nugent.
The humor is highlighted with music that is
more appropriate for a 1960 s sex-comedy than a
horror film. While the characters are enjoying
Juliane KOhler and Merab Ninidze in the Holocaust drama "Nowhere in Africa."
Link doesn't let the stress-induced out
bursts shatter the intimate family portrait.
"Nowhere in Africa" is rated R, be
cause people have real sex in this movie.
Not the cleaned-up Hollywood sex, but
real passionate sex involving the married
couple. What the MPAA doesn't tell you
is that there is poetry in the love-making,
just as there is poetry in the rest of the
film. "Nowhere in Africa" is a filmmak
ing achievement that I thought I would
never see after "Schindler's List," mak
ing Link's drama the seminal Holocaust
film of the 2P' Century.
Little Shop of Horrors
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Daniel J. Stasiewski & Erika Jarvis
a&e editors
Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames fight off the
zombies in "Dawn of the Dead."
the mall's commodities, a crooner sings a campy
version of Disturbed's hardcore song "Down with
the Sickness" over the exploits. Even elevator
music isn't ignored as part of the wacky
soundtrack.
Oh, there are scares in the film, but they are
nowhere near as entertaining as the comedy. New
York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell called this
version of "Dawn" a big budget Troma film. For
the most part, it is, but that's exactly why the
film works. For any person out there who might
attempt to find a deep theme to the film, there
isn't one. No critique of consumerism. No "Lord
of the Flies" parallel. Nothing. That leaves open
the possibility for corny horror entertainment,
which is the only thing anyone can ask for from
a Romero remake.
*Ce3 "Dawn of the Dead,"
directed by Zank
Snyder and starring
out of Sarah Polley and Ving
4 stars Rhames, is currently
showing at rinseltown.
The Sterne Theatre Presents
behrcolls@aol.com
"Nowhere in Africa," directed by
Caroline Link ans starring Juliane
Kohler and Merab Ninidz, will be
screened as part of the Women's Inter
national Film Series. The event takes
place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Reed 117.
Admission is free
- Yr lir 3fr
out of
" i „1„. 4 stars