Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Die weisse Massai" or "The White Massai" is a German movie from over 10 years ago and mostly known today because Nina Hoss plays the title character and she has turned into quite a star recently, especially in the United States. Well, "star" may be a bit much, but she has appeared in some high-profile films and series that most German actors can only dream of. The movie here is written and directed by Hermine Huntgeburth, who adapted Corinne Hofmann's novel for the big screen here. The film makes it past the 2-hour mark and tells us about a Swiss woman who travels to Africa and falls in love with a local tribesman. She decides to leave everything and everybody behind for that, even her boyfriend who she has been with a long time.Almost the entire two hours is about her and how she (not) tries to adapt to life in the Massai tribe. The strict regulations, especially in terms of gender roles constantly clash with her personal identity and also her self-confidence as the modern woman she has been so far in life. It really is a 180° turn for her. Will it work out regardless in the end. Watch for yourself. This is by no means a perfect film and there is a weakness here and there, yet the solid script and strong acting (especially by Jacky Ido who you may know from Tarantino's World War II movie) makes this one worth a watch. The good outweighs the bad overall in my opinion and I recommend watching it. Thumbs up for "Die weisse Massai".

horacioreyes The film itself is a costum oriented, related to the encounter of two cultures, telling the story of an odd couple; based mainly in a difficult reality of the African tribes. The photography and cultural scenes are interesting.The story is almost unreal, unless knowing it has been based upon a true story I would never believe it could happen.At the beginning of the film it seems the description of a whim, but later on you can see that there is something deeper, perhaps true love, that move hearts to go to the limits.If something is missing in the film is to go deeper on the thoughts and feelings as well as explain better the cultural backgrounds.------Spoiler------ I have made some research and I have seen that the author, Corinne, has written another 3 books upon her life consequences of this decision. This film has pushed her to come back to Barsaloi after 14 years and only few months ago to her daughter who today is 23 years old.I wonder Why she waited so long to come back? and What happened on their hearts trough the time? Humankind is difficult, understanding each other is a challenge, we are so similar but at the same time so different. I had travel throughout the 5 continents and I like to mingle between the cultures, but Corinne push this to the ultimate consequences.I wonder What is needed so the developed world take care of the poor countries?, and How to do so without imposing our set of values? Ultimately this film has make me think and research, in this sense I think is the most important value of the film.I wish it could be done a second film with a more intimate description! A final reflection is that we do not have to travel so far to struggle in the quest of understanding other people; in our own family we have the challenge of understanding each other with respect!

Arconada The White Massai is a fairly good movie about a Swiss woman who falls in love with a Massai man. The movie is based on true events, and as a consequence the storyline is not very spectacular. On her vacation in Kenya Carola meets Lemalian, a Massai man, and she is immediately attracted to him. She decides to follow him and marry him. The movie shows the difficulties she encounters adapting to the simple life of Massai. Things go wrong when she tries to bring 21th century ways of doing in the community. She rebels against female circumcision and against the way the Massai deal with the inevitability of dying. Things really go wrong when she decides to open a shop. Buying and selling is not in the dictionary of Massai, and the shop goes bankrupt because of everybody buying on credit. By then their relationship is also bankrupt, and she decides to go home to Switzerland with her child.This movie is very good in showing the huge gap between the western and the Massai culture, a gap to wide for love to bridge. Although the movie convinces the viewer in the love between the two, it is obvious from the start that this relationship will not succeed.However, the movie shows only the woman's perspective, leaving the impression that the break-up is mainly the fault of her husband. For instance, it is clear to the viewer that at a certain point the woman cannot continue, but the movie does not even tries to explain why the man gets so "unreasonably" jealous. It would have been good to try to understand the man's behaviour from his cultural background. This is missed completely.Its a good movie to show to anyone who is about to encounter in an inter-cultural relationship.By the way, the movie is English spoken. But at a certain moment Carola gets so frustrated that she starts to scold in her native language, German: a strange, biting, staccato stream of sounds. Amazing that a language that sounds as ugly as this, could produce such great poets like Goethe and Schiller

Tim Johnson Corinne Hofmann's absorbing filmed autobiography is an extremely confronting film and, at least to this viewer, therefore became an uncomfortable couple of hours to watch. It's a tough story that lies before the viewer full of cultural confrontation, personal confrontation and the burial of some individual long-held believes and values. All of this drama is carried out with bare-knuckle subtlety in many cases and also with just as much beauty and softness in often back to back scenes. Anyone watching this wonderfully engaging film will be batted from one extreme to another-hence my use of the words "difficult" and "confronting".It's a fabulous film to mentally play with after leaving the theater; there are so many aspects that must be filed away, in comfort-hopefully, after the total confrontation of values and ideas that will bombard anyone who watches The White Masai. I hope that i am not being nor will be branded as sexist when I write that I thought Lemalian, the Masai, had the harder row to hoe of the two of them-his traditions were continually being assaulted while Hofmann's, although similarly assaulted, were at least those of a visitor rather than as a resident of an extremely isolated and traditional society. Both paths were exceptionally hard and I left the theater feeling privileged that Huntgeburth made the film so that I could peek into events that would tax anybody. Go out of your way to see this film because it is rare and insightful; you will not be disappointed.