The White Masai (2005)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Sadly Over-hyped

Better Late Then Never

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

An interesting German film, based on a true story, about one Carola, a Swiss woman touring Kenya with her boyfriend who is suddenly smitten by a tall, slender Masai tribesman named Lemalian. She astonishes her fiancé by deciding to stay in Kenya and look for Lemalian. Eventually, she founds him among his people, living off the land as subsistence farmers, and decides to settle with him despite the obvious hardship of living there, especially for someone coming from the highly developed world. They eventually marry and they have a daughter but the obvious cultural differences take a toll in their relationship.It might be hard to enjoy this movie if you expect the main character to be likable. As portrayed in the movie, Carola is quite immature: she is initially smitten by Lemalian when they dance sensually in a club. Clearly, the only reason she was attracted to him initially was purely sexual. At times, she looks both naive and arrogant: one has the sense that if she has decided to live among the Masai she should have to be more accommodating to Masai cultural mores. For instance, she is completely outraged when one of the girls in the tribe is circumcised as if she had never heard about this widespread costume before. When they open a shop that sells basic stuff to the tribe she arouses his jealousy by smiling to the male customers. And in the shop she also refuses to give credit to anyone, despite the wishes of her husband, ignoring a tribe's intricate kin relations. Lemalian's motivations are not very well explained in the movie, he is something of a blank, he doesn't understand why his wife cannot be more accommodating to Masai culture, and at the end one fells a bit of a pity to him (though not one forced him to marry Carola).Overall I found this film to be very interesting and entertaining. A very nice photography that shows both the pretty and seamy side of Kenya helps the movie a lot.

The Swiss Carola Lehmann (Nina Hoss) has a crush on the Samburu warrior Lemalian Mamutelil (Jacky Ido) while traveling by ferry in the last day of her two week vacation in Kenya with her boyfriend Stefan (Janek Rieke). She talks to Lemalian and on the next morning, instead of returning to Biel, in Switzerland, Carola decides to leave Stefan and seek out Lemalian. She travels to Nairobi by bus; then to Maralal, where she befriends the Caucasian Elizabeth Muzungu (Katja Flint) married with a Kikuyu that explains some important details of the Samburu culture to her; when Lemalian meets her, they walk together to his isolated pastoralist tribe in Barsaloi. Carola is welcomed by his people and along the years, she sells her shop in Switzerland and marries Lemalian, having a daughter with him. She also runs a store in the location. However, their differences of cultures force Carola to take an ultimate attitude and return to her country."The Weisse Massai" is one of the most incredible romances I have ever seen. The reason is not racial, but how the bourgeois Carola could leave her middle-class lifestyle to live with Lemalian in the middle of nowhere in his tribe of shepherds. The acting is top-notch as well as the cinematography.However it seems that there are inaccuracies between the title, the character Lemalian and the story between Maasai and Samburu people. Both are semi-nomadic indigenous that lives in Kenya and Maralal is located within the Samburu District, but they are people totally distinct from each other. Lemalian speaks English and the Maasai are also educated in this language, supporting the title of the movie. But Lemalian mentions in Nairobi when he goes with Carola to the Immigration Department that he is a Samburu "murran" (warrior) and he is illiterate, what is a contradiction. The screenplay writer did not do his homework; he should be more careful while writing about a true event and make a research. Unfortunately IMDb censorship did not accept my original review and I needed to rewrite removing the references to the Wikipedia that gave a better explanation to this contradiction. Despite this inconsistency, this movie is engaging and highly recommended. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Massai Branca" ("The White Massai")

What strange thing is the attraction between two human beings. It is a mystery hard to explain. In the case of Carola Lehmann, a successful shop owner from Switzerland, on a holiday in Kenya with her boyfriend, it is the chance encounter with Lemalian, a handsome Massai youth that catches her eye. Carola, who is about to go back home, has second thoughts about returning to a normal life in what is considered a civilized country, and decides to stay behind for an uncertain life with a somewhat primitive African man.Carola, who has no other friends in Kenya, except Elisabeth, the wife of a black man, makes the trek to a remote part of the country to the Massai enclave where Lemalian hails from. The shock she receives when she sees the primitive society where she has decide to settle with her man, is somehow ameliorated by the love in her heart. Their lovemaking is not exactly the way she expects it; to make matters worse, she witnesses a young woman subjected to a ritual that involves the cutting of a part of her sexual organ.Trying to get out of the poverty she experiences, Carola decides to go back home to sell her shop. With the proceedings, she sets up a store that she sees as a service to the community. The only thing is that everyone wants credit. Her life changes dramatically when she delivers a baby girl. Eventually she becomes disillusioned with the ways Lemalian has changed. She asks for his permission to take the girl back home. Lemalian, reluctantly, gives her the permit and both mother and daughter depart for a new life.Director Hermine Huntgeburth did a marvelous job in recreating a story that is based on the real Carola's experiences in Africa. The film never fails to surprise because of the candid account it has for the viewer. It shows a courageous woman who gets beaten by the customs and the environment. In trying to make a family life, she is overwhelmed by the primitive ways of the people she wanted to help.Nina Hoss, who plays Carola is marvelous. She exudes intelligence in her approach to the character she is playing. Jackie Ido, on the other hand, is somewhat stiff. Never having seen anyone of the actors before, we approached the film with an open mind knowing full well the limitations Ms. Huntgeburth must have encountered while filming in such a primitive setting."The White Massai" will stay in our memory for quite some time.

The movie is based on the book "The white Masai", and on the true life of Corinne Hofmann, the author of the book.She becomes attracted to a Masai man while on a trip to Kenya, and eventually moves in with him and marries him. This movie is about love, cultural differences and hard facts of life. It is very romantic but also heart stopping in the struggles for cultural understanding.The movie does not strictly follow the story of the book, but makes a good job of squeezing the essentials into a 2 hour movie. The tensions, the hardships etc, are well caught much thanks to good acting performances.I really miss a lot of information in the movie. E.g. how was her relation with other people in the village, especially with "Mama" in the same hut. Also there is often a lack of explaining what other people in the tribe thought of her actions. Some cultural differences are quite insufficiently covered, e.g. how her way to talk to other men contributed to the jealousy of her husband. Many of the hardships in the book are also left out in the movie.What is truly great about the movie and the story, is that her failures are not hidden. Its not a movie about that the native life in Africa is "so hard" for a sane westerner to live. The sacrifices made from both sides are vast, from their cultural positions and values, but still they are not sufficient to bridge the gap in so many issues.It is a really good movie. I recommend it to anyone. Ignore the other whining comments here. The movie does a good job, if not perfect, fitting the story into a 2 hour movie. The cultural differences are there to see and think about, even if some things were left out.