Out of Africa
by Sydney Pollack
List Price:
Our Price: $6.85
You Save: $8.13 (54%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.29 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Malick Bowens, Meryl Streep, Michael Kitchen, Robert RedfordDirector: Sydney Pollack
Brand: REDFORD,ROBERT
Producer: Anna Cataldi
Producer: Judith Thurman
Writer: Judith Thurman
Producer: Kim Jorgensen
Writer: Errol Trzebinski
Writer: Karen Blixen
Writer: Kurt Luedtke
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 4.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 4.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 161 minutes
Published: 2000-02-01
DVD Release Date: 2000-02-29
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of Out of Africa
Movie Review: A song of Africa; and: What price freedom?
Summary: 5 Stars
He often tries to distill his movies' themes into a single word, Sydney Pollack explains on "Out of Africa"'s DVD. Here, that word is "Possession:" The possessiveness of the colonialists trying to make Africa theirs; to rule her with their law, settle on the local tribes' land, dress their African servants in European outfits (complete with a house boy's white gloves), import prized belongings like crystal to maintain the comforts of European civilization, and teach African children to read, to remove their "ignorance." And the possessiveness of human relationships; the claim of exclusivity arising from a wedding license, the encroachment on personal freedom resulting if such a claim is raised by even one partner - regardless whether based on a legal document - and the implications of desire, jealousy, want and need.
As such, the movie's story of Danish writer Karen Blixen's (Isak Dinesen's) experience in Kenya is inextricably intertwined with her love for free-spirited hunter/adventurer Denys Finch Hatton. Just as she spends years trying to wrangle coffee beans from ground patently unfit for their plantation and create a dam where water that, her servants tell her, "lives in Mombassa" needs to flow freely, only to see her efforts fail at last, so also her romance with Finch Hatton blossoms only as long as she is still (pro forma) married, and thus cannot fully claim him. As soon as the basis of their relationship changes, Finch Hatton withdraws - and is killed in a plane crash shortly thereafter, his death thus cementing a development already underway with terrible finality. In her eulogy Karen asks God to take back his soul with its freedom intact: "He was not ours - he was not mine." Yet, both Kenya and Finch Hatton leave such a mark on her that, forced to return to Denmark, she literally writes them back into her life; again becoming the "mental traveler" she had been before first setting foot on African soil, using her exceptional storytelling powers to resurrect the world and the man she lost, and be united with them in spirit where a more tenable union is no longer possible.
While "Out of Africa" is an adaptation of Blixen's like-named ode to Kenya, several of her other works also informed the screenplay; as did Judith Thurman's Blixen biography. And it's this combination which in screenwriter Carl Luedtke' and director Sydney Pollack's hands turns into gold where prior attempts have failed; because Blixen's book is primarily, as Pollack explains, "a pastorale, a beautifully formed memoir [relying] on her prose style, her sense of poetry and her ability to discover large truths in very small ... details" but lacking "much narrative drive" and thus, "difficult to translate to film." In addition, Blixen was largely silent about her relationship with Finch Hatton, which however was an essential element of the story, thus dooming any attempt to produce a movie without extensive prior research into this area.
Meryl Streep was not Sydney Pollack's first choice for the role of Karen, for which luminaries including Greta Garbo and Audrey Hepburn had previously been considered. Looking back in the DVD's documentary, Streep and Pollack recount how his change of mind came about (and ladies, I just know her version will make you laugh out loud). But while unfortunately neither her Oscar- nor her Golden-Globe-nomination turned into one of the movie's multiple awards (on Oscar night alone, Best Movie, Best Director and Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Music and Sound), she was indeed the perfect choice. Few contemporary actresses have her range of talent and sensitivity; and listening to tapes of Blixen reading her own works allowed her not only to develop a Danish accent but to become the story's narrative voice in the completest sense, from Blixen's persona to her perceptions and penmanship.
Much has been made of the fact that as Finch Hatton no British actor was cast but Robert Redford, with whom Pollack had previously collaborated in five successful movies, including the mid-1970s' "The Way We Were" and "Three Days of the Condor." But as Pollack points out, Finch Hatton, although a real enough person in Karen Blixen's life, in the movie's context stands for the universal type of the charming, ever-unpossessable, mysterious male; and there simply is no living actor whose image matches that type as closely as Redford's. Indeed, in this respect his character in "Out of Africa" epitomizes his "Redfordness" more intensely than *any* of his other roles. Moreover, all references to Finch Hatton's nationality are deleted here; so this isn't Robert Redford trying to portray a member of the English upper class, this is Redford portraying Redford (or at least, his public image) - and therefore, it is only proper that he didn't adopt a British accent, either.
Praise for this movie wouldn't be complete without mentioning the splendid, Golden-Globe-winning performance of Klaus-Maria Brandauer, one of today's best German-speaking actors, in the role of Karen's philandering husband Bror. (And if you think he's duplicitous here, rent such gems as "Mephisto" and "Hanussen" - or, for that matter, "James Bond: Never Say Never Again" - and you'll see what creepy and demonic really is when it's grown up). And of course, "Out of Africa" wouldn't be what it is without its superb African cast members; particularly Malick Bowens as Karen's faithful major domus Farah and Joseph Thiaka in his only known screen appearance as Kamante, Karen's indomitable cook. Several fine British actors complete the cast, providing enough British colonial feel even for those quibbling with Redford's casting; to name but a few, Michael Kitchen as Finch Hatton's friend Berkeley Cole, Michael Gough as Lord "Dee" Delamere and Suzanna Hamilton as Felicity (whose character is based on Blixen's friend and rival for Finch Hatton's attentions, Beryl Markham).
In all, "Out of Africa" is a grand, lavishly produced tribute to Africa, nature, freedom, adventure and love: Karen Blixen's "Song of Africa" brought to the big screen - and one of the profoundest love stories ever written by life itself.
Also recommended:
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass
Isak Dinesen:The Life of Karen Blixen, Storyteller
West with the Night
The Flame Trees of Thika
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Green Hills of Africa (Scribner Classics)
Petals of Blood
Things Fall Apart: A Novel
The Way We Were (Special Edition)
The Bridges of Madison County (Deluxe Widescreen Edition)
Summary of Out of Africa
The most acclaimed motion picture of 1985 stars Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in one of the screen?s great epic romances. Directed by Oscar winner Sydney Pollack, Out of Africa is the fascinating true story of Karen Blixen, a strong-willed woman who, with her philandering husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer), runs a coffee plantation in Kenya, circa 1914. To her astonishment, she soon discovers herself falling in love with the land, its people and a mysterious white hunter (Redford). The masterfully crafted, breathtakingly produced story of love and loss earned Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (based on material from another medium), Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction (Set Decoration) and Sound.Sydney Pollack's 1985 multiple-Oscar winner is a sumptuous and emotionally satisfying film about the life of Danish writer Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), better known as Isak Dinesen, who travels to Kenya to be with her German husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer) but falls for an English adventurer (Robert Redford). The film is slow in developing the relationship, but it is rich in beautiful images of Africa and in the romantic tone surrounding Blixen's gradual discovery of her life and voice. One downside: while we may all love Redford, he is as convincingly British as Kevin Costner is in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. --Tom Keogh
Similar DVD Movies
Gone with the Wind (Two-Disc 70th Anniversary Edition)by Margaret Mitchell
Warner; Release date: 2009-11-17; Published: 2009; DVD
Best price: $6.88
Price in other shops:
I Dreamed of AfricaSony; Release date: 2000-08-29; DVD
Best price: $6.79
Price in other shops:
Kramer vs. KramerHOFFMAN,DUSTIN; Release date: 2001-08-28; DVD
Best price: $8.39
Price in other shops:
A Passage to IndiaSony; Release date: 2001-03-20; DVD
Best price: $6.03
Price in other shops:
On Golden Pond (Special Edition)LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2003-12-16; DVD
Best price: $5.45
Price in other shops:
Out Of Africa: Music From The Motion Picture SoundtrackRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.48
Price in other shops:
A River Runs Through ItSony; Release date: 1999-11-23; DVD
Best price: $3.08
Price in other shops:
The Way We Were (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2004-12-02; DVD
Best price: $4.27
Price in other shops:
The Bridges of Madison CountyWarner Brothers; Release date: 2010-06-01; DVD
Best price: $4.57
Price in other shops:
Doctor Zhivago (45th Anniversary Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2010-05-04; DVD
Best price: $9.19
Price in other shops: