SCHLAFFKRANKHEIT (SLEEPING SICKNESS)

Germany, 2011, 91 minutes, Colour.
Pierre Bokma, Jean- Christophe Folly, Jenny Schily, Hippolyte Girardot.
Directed by Ulrich Kohler.

Straightforward at first, then disorienting, then perplexing and finally puzzling, one wonders at first whether it is worth pursuing and reflecting on or not. It is.

After sorting out the two parts and the time distance between each part, one has a perspective on the central character. He is a German doctor, working in Cameroun, in charge of projects, especially one on sleeping sickness. He has been able to eradicate the illness to a large extent but funds come in, seem to disappear or are squandered.

In the first part, he is about to return to Europe with his wife. His teenage daughter is visiting from boarding school. A French friend tries to persuade him to stay. All normal enough so far – a European who does good in a developing country and is facing ordinary personal problems.

The jolt in part 2 is unexpected. It is three years later. The focus is now on a young Paris-born doctor of Congolese ancestry. There is some discussion about the value of aid versus trade in dealing with development issues in Africa. The doctor, Alix, goes to Cameroun to evaluate the medical projects for the World Health Organisation, especially the sleeping sickness project. Alix is bewildered by what he finds, with chaos and hindrances to his enquiries. The German doctor is in a far different frame of mind, has stayed and taken up with a local woman who gives birth, Alix having to assist.

The end is both abrupt and symbolic, involving a hippopotamus. Is the doctor himself a victim of sleeping sickness and how it affects a European in Africa. And what (or who?) is the hippopotamus. We end with questions and puzzles.

1. An African story? The director, his background of growing up in Africa, his parents? His statement that this is a European story?

2. The director’s experience as a child, his parents, their mission in Africa?

3. The Cameroon locations, the roads, day and night, homes, hospitals, the countryside, the river? The contrast with Paris, Europe, airports, offices?

4. The realism – and the shift to fantasy?

5. The title, the nature of the sickness, Ebbo and his experience, doctor, the cure and the project? Alex and his visit, exploring the projects?

6. The first part of the film and its realism, the Europeans in Africa, the airport, driving at night, the demand for documents by the military and the police, the daughter coming from Europe, needing the visa? The guards, the bribes, Ebbo’s refusal, giving the policeman a lift? Joseph and his guarding the house – and later accusations that he was asleep, his defence that he was in the garden? The house, life in Africa? Ebbo and his work, the projects? The wife and the preparation for going home? The daughter coming from boarding school, the solemn teenager, not going for the swim, her father’s reaction? Preparing to return? The doctor coming to succeed him, the issues of the house, vehicles, the projects, money? Ebbo’s life as a doctor, the meetings, the grants? The improvement in eradicating the illnesses? Yet the money still coming in? The African and his wanting the car for his son? The overall effect on Ebbo?

7. The transition to the future, the speeches in Europe, the issue of aid and trade? The speakers, the discussions? The discussions about Africans, sexuality, relationships, innuendo? Alex and his ideas, his work, the remark that he was gay?

8. Alex’s mission, the World Health Organisation, the arrival, the shambles, the cars and the drivers pressurising him, going to the hotel, Ebbo away? The way he was treated? In the dark, the hut, the toilet? The few patients? The pregnant woman, her relationship with Ebbo? His needing to do the surgery, the phone advice, his collapse? The birth, talking with Ebbo?

9. The role of Gaspard? As a friend of Ebbo, wanting him to manage the property, staying in Africa, colonial attitude, exploitation? The hunt?

10. The hippopotamus story, the magic realism, the doctor, relationships, transformation? Ebbo taking Alex out for a hunt, at night with Gaspard? Alex alone, seeing the hippopotamus – and the sudden ending? Leaving the audience with what?

11. The film as a drama, as a fable, as a message film?