Caroline Link’s new film is a declaration of love addressed to the Arab world and its music, colors and moods.

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Ben would love to spend the summer traveling with his boarding school friends, but his family has other plans: he’s to visit his father Heinrich, who’s preparing a theater production in Morocco. But the two have nothing left in common and Ben decides to travel around the country by himself. On the way he meets the young prostitute Karima and falls in love with her. Ben takes off to visit her home town, ignoring his father’s calls. Worried, Heinrich goes off after Ben.

Caroline Link won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2003 for Nirgendwo in Afrika. Now she returns with a beautifully shot father-and-son story, which in some instances is too placatory. Set on the African continent against an imposing, exotic backdrop, Link spins a story about a family coming to terms with its past. Although the performances are good, the plot is sometimes piled on a little too thickly.