The White Maasai (film)
Movie | |
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Original title | The white Maasai |
Country of production | Germany |
original language | German |
Publishing year | 2005 |
length | 131 minutes |
Age rating | FSK 12 |
Rod | |
Director | Hermione Huntgeburth |
script | Johannes W. Betz after Corinne Hofmann |
production | Günter Rohrbach |
music | Niki Reiser |
camera | Martin Langer |
cut | Eva Schnare |
occupation | |
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The White Massai is a German film by Hermine Huntgeburth from 2005, based on the book of the same name by Corinne Hofmann .
action
At the end of her vacation in Kenya, the Swiss Carola meets the Samburu warrior Lemalian from a minor tribe of the Maasai . After the first glance, she feels magically attracted to the stranger and falls head over heels in love. Without further ado, Carola does not take her return flight and sends her friend Stefan home alone. She stays in Kenya and starts looking for Lemalian. After an adventurous journey through the African wilderness, Carola meets the German Elisabeth in Maralal and becomes friends with her. Elisabeth helps her find the warrior. Carola decides to give up her old life in Switzerland and emigrates. Then she lived her dream for four years in Kenya, but the adventure turned into a difficult undertaking in which two extremely different cultures collide.
Carola gives birth to a daughter and opens her own grocery store. She experiences the circumcision of girls, a stillbirth on her jeep and many cultural differences. But the most troublesome for her is the jealousy of Lemalian, who suspects a lover. When this degenerates, she decides to fly to Switzerland with her daughter. Lemalian tells her to her face when she says goodbye that he doesn't think she'll be back.
backgrounds
The film is based on an autobiographical life story by the German Corinne Hofmann . The story began in 1986 until she and their little daughter moved back to Switzerland in 1990, as she could no longer bear the circumstances. She wrote a book about her experience in Kenya that became a world bestseller and on which this film is based. Corinne Hofmann and her story became a spectacular media event, which was followed by two more books that complement each other to form a trilogy.
The film premiered on September 14, 2005 at the Toronto International Film Festival . A day later it was shown in German cinemas, where it had 2.2 million visitors, making it the most commercially successful German film of 2005.
Reviews
“It is unquestionably a spectacular fate that arouses interest and curiosity, challenges and at the same time raises numerous - also critical - questions; Questions about the motivation of this determined and naive, open-minded and eccentric, courageous and alienating woman; Questions about the individually experienced as well as about the foreign African world, especially about the credibility of this encounter in the area of tension between intercultural understanding and 'cultural clash'. Like the skins of an onion, the mechanisms of media marketing have overlaid Corinne Hofmann's 'adventure', which is intended to keep many perspectives and interpretations open for the largest possible audience: whether as a naive love romance in an exotic setting or as a 'large ethnic case study' - every reader should pick what is suitable for him. He will probably only get on the track of reality to a limited extent. Nevertheless, there is certainly a lot to learn about dealing with reality and preparing the facts. "
Awards
- 2005 - Bavarian Film Prize for Nina Hoss
- 2005 - "Particularly valuable" rating from the Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden (FBW)
Web links
- The White Masai in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The white Maasai at filmportal.de