People are voting emotionally.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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.

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.

When I heard of this movie, I must admit that I have not known much about it. First, I have not read the novel by Corinne Hofmann. Moreover, there are no famous names of cast that would draw my attention. What called my interest was Africa, the continent that has not been very popular in movies but so attractive in itself together with both its beauties as well as its difficulties. I saw some movies about this continent, including "The African Queen" (1951) by John Huston and "Nirgendwo in Afrika" (2001) by Caroline Link. Therefore, I went to see "Die Weisse Massai" expecting that I would equally like this movie. What were my feelings about it after leaving the cinema? The film surprised me as very good in some aspects and average in some other ones. The film does a very good job in one theme – it accurately shows the culture clash that is doomed to appear in the situation it shows. A Swiss woman, Carola (Nina Hoss), goes to Kenya, accidentally meets a Massai warrior Lemalian (Jacky Ido), falls in love and begins to live with him in harsh conditions, almost unbearable for any European. At first, it seems that love will conquer all difficulties and differences but, in the long run, the situation does not occur to be as simple as that. „Everything is O.K." or „Alles in Ordnung" becomes a slogan that has nothing to do with the true situation...The first problem turns out to be sex with this man – he is deadly selfish and treats love between a man and a woman as an act of pleasure for man only. Carola teaches him how to love her...and it goes in the right direction but sex occurs to be not everything, particularly in such a relationship. Soon she says „The longer I live with him, the less I understand him and not only kisses make a problem..." So what makes the problem? Almost everything: lifestyle, traditions, social behavior, treatment of important matters in life, and, of course, male-female relations. I liked the way the movie showed this – Carola does not realize how difficult it is to live with Lemalian at first but gradually. When she sees how young girls are treated in the tribe, she feels petrified and disgusted... yet, there is nothing she can do, as the Pastor says. This is the way they have been living for hundreds of years! What right do we have to change them? When she opens the shop, it gradually brings serious problems since relatives don't understand how it should work. Why? Because she saw the business reality in a Swiss way and wanted to adopt it among the Massai – this adopting of culture by force was best presented in the shop sequence or when Carola allows Lemalian to drive. Finally, the most serious problem Carola has to cope with is when her husband accuses her of betraying him with other men. She smiles at male customers in order to be nice. Her husband sees this as flirting... SPOILER: Nevertheless, the two scenes that I very much disliked were when Lemalian accuses the Pastor for making love to his woman and when Lemalian says to Carola that some rotten remains went out of her body. These were highly out of good taste! But generally speaking, the film is an accurate presentation of the problem. People who think that male-female love will do for everything should see this movie. There is another advantage of this movie – the true African reality. We see the cities, the landscape, the markets, the real core of African life. The movie is mostly shot in Africa, which makes it exceptionally authentic. Some scenes filmed in the beautiful landscape of Kenya are fabulous. We not only see the real African inhabitants but also hear their language. Moreover, there is a lot to be found about their customs and traditions, sometimes obscure habits but customs that have a right to be respected. This all provides a viewer with a chance to see the real Africa on screen. In this case, I must mention the moment when Carola travels by bus, a woman by her side asks her for the destination of her journey. The reaction to Carola's answer... for us such a behavior is vague but African people find this absolutely normal.The performances are fine. Nina Hoss does a very good job as a woman who is driven to do something by her desires and gradually realizes how difficult it is to live in such a reality. She gives a very appealing performance and feels the role straightly from the beginning to the surprising end. Jacky Ido is good as Lemalian, a Massai warrior and a European woman's lover. But here, a mention must be made of many African people who behave very naturally before cameras and make the film highly authentic.Finally, there is, however, one problem about the movie – its totally predictable content. I watched the film and almost knew what would come later. It is easy to predict the behavior of such a woman. They are all very similar in what they do, not to offend anyone, at first see sex and then open their eyes and realize difficulties. Then, they don't get used to harsh living conditions and give up this life. Yet, the consequences do not disappear automatically... Therefore, it appears that there is nothing that may conquer cultural conflict, nothing - not even true love.All in all, in spite of some drawbacks of the film, THE WHITE MASSAI WOMAN is a nice psychological insight into culture clash. But even if you are not particularly fond of the story, I still recommend you to see the film due to the authentic Africa. Besides, the performance of Nina Hoss is exceptionally memorable. You will surely like something about the film. Worth looking for! 7/10