[Sleeping Sickness] tells the story of Ebbo Velten, a German doctor who oversees a sleeping sickness treatment center in Cameroon. He is about to return to Europe with his wife, when Dr. Alex Nzila, a representative from the World Health Organization, arrives at the site to assess the project. This film is a moving expose on international aid and bureaucratic corruption in Africa, disclosing the remnants of a quid-pro-quo system held over from the colonial era. The film is divided into two parts: The first represents a Western doctor’s point of view, the second, a local doctor’s. The unexpected situation that closes the film, thus, stands out even more. Moreover, the use of frames and barriers allows the audience to watch the film from an observer’s point of view, a setting that is also outstanding. This film, like all of the films of Ulrich Kohler, a leading director from Berlin, is imbued with a sense of magical mystery. (RHEE, Soue-won)