I came to watch this film through a friend's sister who, interested in German language texts, has read the book and saw that this was being shown as part of the German Film Festival. Based on a true account of a Swiss woman falling in love and pursuing a Masai warrior (Lemalian) after a holiday in Kenya, the film follows Carola as she packs up her life in Switzerland to live with the Masai tribe.
There are interesting cultural elements at play, contrasting Carola's initial interactions with Lemalian as a tourist with their courtship and finally marriage. Along the way she learns about - but does not always apply her knowledge to - the customs of the Masai people and we soak up what we see as an audience.
Essentially the movie sets out to be a love story and, for the most part, it is about how her love for Lemalian gives her the strength to drastically alter her lifestyle. Their daughter is the fruit of this love. But eventually it is her strength and Western idealism that tears the marriage apart as she stubbornly refuses to accept some of the customs of the tribe she has joined, including protesting against female circumcision and aiding a 'bewitched' pregnant woman.
The insurmountable problem is the communication barrier; both linguistic and relationship-wise. Both speak English as their second language, therefore English and body language is the only interactive communication that both understand. Lemalian's Swahili is not translated so the German (translation) only exists to further our understanding of Carola's mindset. A difficulty, but problematic also because there is also no attempt to really understand each other's actions and motivations.
For example, when Carola decides to open a shop Lemalian is shamed by his wife's ambitions and is further cut down by her anger when she finds out he is giving credit to all their friends, relatives and neighbours (ie everyone). He accuses her of cheating on him because she is too friendly with her customers. They are never shown discussing, or even attempting to discuss, their respective feelings about each situation - they merely have the heat of the argument and the cold shoulder that follows.
On her part, Carola refuses to submit to the male dominance of the Masai culture, which is her most major mistake. I mean, if one packs up one's comfy Swiss existence for life with this tribe, one would know and necessarily agree to one's place in their culture. She is so determined to do things her way that she fails to see how her cultural bulldozing is also razing her marriage, such as when she is advised not to make direct eye contact with men as this sends out the wrong signal but she carries on looking them in the eye anyway, exacerbating Lemalian's jealousy.
The film has a lot of unfulfilled potential, especially with regard to lacking feedback about how Carola is being accepted into the Masai community. Based on an autobiography, of course it is fairly one dimensional, but I would have liked to have seen a departure from the book. Carola is the only fully developed character; even Lemalian is a bit of a sketch at times, perhaps indicating that the real 'Carola' (Corinne Hofmann) also failed to understand much about her husband and her adopted community.
The performances are brilliant, though. Jacky Ido's Lemalian is as beautiful and ominous as a thundercloud and Nina Hoss' Carola flickers between the 'can-do' independent Swiss Miss to the bewildered 'what the hell am I doing here?' white woman lost. The scenery is expansive, forbidding and achingly gorgeous - well done to the cinematography team - and the small insights that we glimpse of the Masai way of life are valuable.
The last thing I want to criticise is the lack of storytelling. Although this is a film about the story of this woman's marriage, it is presented in such a way that we feel we have merely cut out a chunk of her life instead of having real tension to the action. Where the film begins and where it ends makes sense (her holiday in Kenya with her soon-to-be former boyfriend / the break up of her marriage) but the scenes in between are strung together rather than pull their own weight such that the plot flits from experience to incident instead of building something.
I must say the film must have been disappointing for those who were there to extend their German skills. Although I wasn't disappointed as such, I do think much could have been improved with regard to the editing and the portrayal of other characters' reaction to Carola.
P.S: There is also a wholly unnecessary, reasonably graphic sex scene where Carola 'teaches' Lemalian how to have sex that pleasures them both. The beginning two minutes of the scene says enough (ie she changes his view on sex) but then there's about another 6 minutes of action, which I found rather gratuitous.
** - interesting, but not enough story in the film
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