An engrossing true story about a small family of German Jews who flee to the middle of Kenya to escape the Nazis. This is a movie all about labels. They come from Germany, but they are not Germans. They are secular, so they are not Jews. They live in Africa, but they are not African. Their daughter is taught in an English school and Kenya is still, politically, part of the British Empire, but they are not English. And, let’s face it, Mom and Dad don’t really love each other, so are they even a family? There’s a little schmaltz (some unneeded slo-mo and freeze-frame, some awful music, a few scenes straight out of Little House on the Prairie and, yes, the requisite magical black man) but had this been a Hollywood production it would have been far, far worse. Well worth your time.
