Nearly four hours long, "Home From Home" is imbued with the villagers' attachment to the land, but while dutifully capturing the period, the film feels less layered than Mr. Reitz's past work.

For all of its evident toil in recreating historically accurate environments and researching the precise conditions in varying regions, it has little force as a work of cinema.

This beautifully shot black-and-white feature is accessible even for those unfamiliar with Reitz's previous work.

"Home From Home" isn't the kind of definitive post-mortem on a decade that "The Second Heimat" was, but it will speak to anyone who's ever felt trapped by their surroundings and dreamed of escape.