Sleeping Sickness

2011

1h 31m

Drama

List

Reviews

37%

Audience Score

50+ Ratings

Ebbo and Vera live in Africa a long time as they work for Ebbo on a long job. However, Vera wants to return to Europe to be close to her daughter, who is studying at a boarding school.

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Radheyan Simonpillai

NOW Toronto

Rated: 3/5

Mar 30, 2012

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Andrew Schenker

Slant Magazine

Trans-global cross-currents and the continued practice of neo-colonialism are what's at stake in Ulrich Khler's haunting, oneiric Sleeping Sickness.

Oct 1, 2011

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Joseph Walsh

CineVue

Sleeping Sickness is ultimately a dull film hiding under the pretence of arthouse cinema.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 29, 2018

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Kent Turner

Film-Forward.com

Shot in Cameroon, the multi-prism film is thoroughly European in its perspective of Africa, the real star, while calling into question Western attitudes toward developing nations.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 5, 2011

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Audience Member

Must be a timing thing. I really liked this set & setting, and the story too as I remember it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

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eric a

Yes, this was excellent film-making.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

It is a French-speaking German film about life of development work in a land far away told through several people involved in it especially how it affects the personal life the lead character who dispensed with his family and the end he encountered after being stubborn with the work he continued instead of return to his home country.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Audience Member

"Sleeping Sickness" cuenta la historia de dos doctores europeos en Africa y a pesar de que podría haberse convertido fácilmente en un melodrama político acerca de la intervención extranjera y la falta de recursos, esta se enfoca en sus personajes y nunca se vuelve manipuladora. Los doctores y sus historias son interesantes y aunque la cinta no sabe resolver su conflicto principal y su final se siente un tanto abrupto, "Sleeping Sickness" es estimulante en su manera directa de abordar sus temas. Es una coproducción alemana que vale la pena ver.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The experience of watching this movie felt like reading a sophisticated poem. It seems gibberish at first. Then it suddenly appears profound. Just when you start to recognize the hidden motifs, you feel lost again.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

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Audience Member

Did not disappoint at all. An intoxicating thriller about losing humanity in the heart of corruptible Africa that will not be seen and pigeon-holed in the "arthouse" category.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

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Ulrich Kohler

Director

Pierre Bokma

Ebbo Velten

Jean-Christophe Folly

Alex Nzila

Hippolyte Girardot

Gaspard Signac

Sava Lolov

Elia Todorov

Jenny Schily

Vera Velten

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Synopsis

Ebbo and Vera live in Africa a long time as they work for Ebbo on a long job. However, Vera wants to return to Europe to be close to her daughter, who is studying at a boarding school.

Director: Ulrich Kohler
Producer: Maren Ade, Anne Even, Janine Jackowski, Katrin Schlösser, Frans van Gestel, Christian Cloos, Birgit Kämper
Screenwriter: Ulrich Kohler
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Runtime: 1h 31m