Out of Africa
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Movie Reviews of Out of Africa
Movie Review: Beyond this place there be dragons
Summary: 5 Stars
"Out of Africa" stands out as one of the most spectacular movies ever made. At the 1985 Academy Awards this movie won seven Oscars including Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Picture. It deserved all seven!
It is filled with romance, scenery, real-life struggles and the inevitability of fate. It is a journey into Africa and into love. The escape is in the hand of fate. This movie presents Africa as a paradise. The natural environment is harsh, yet unspoiled in this movie.
This is based on the true story of Danish writer Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) who left Denmark to marry German Klaus Maria Brandauer/Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and start a dairy in Kenya.
Some women do enjoy the security of a man looking after them, however Karen is different. She seems to desire companionship and offers her fortune in exchange for marriage. Her husband changes his mind about the dairy and instead they use her money on a risky venture to grow coffee. This is not a marriage based on an intense romance, in fact, Karen is marrying her lover's brother.
Soon after they arrive in Africa, it becomes apparent this is not a satisfying marriage for Karen. Not only is her husband unfaithful to her, he gives her syphilis. Disease is not the only threat, she also has to fight floods and fire. There are lions which apparently try to attack Karen and Denys although I thought that was pretty unlikely in the situation.
I didn't like the "hunter" aspects or when the two lions are killed, but if you watch at the end, I think even the lions forgive the hunter. When I've seen lions during the day they were normally napping in the shade. Apparently they had trouble getting the lions to act aggressive and there is information on the DVD explaining these details.
Karen finds acceptance in big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) who loves her ability to tell stories. He starts the stories and she completes them. I think he is impressed by her confidence and creativity. He sees who she really is. Her husband is obviously blind to this beautiful goddess he has taken to Africa.
She in turn is delighted by this interest and slowly allows him into her world. While Denys and Karen are a perfect match and as close to soul mates as possible, Denys is unsure of commitment and explains how a piece of paper won't make him love her more. Meryl Streep and Robert Redford have chemistry, chemistry and more chemistry in this movie! They mostly share a few kisses, yet their relationship is on such a deep level, I think it could survive if they just told each other stories.
What Karen seems to truly desire is a man who will sacrifice to be with her. She wants to be of value. Denys tells Karen she has confused "want" and "need." This is an excellent portrayal of the gender differences. Man wants to be free to come and go and woman wants security, love and commitment. She wants to be treated with respect.
Denys "wants" Karen and Karen seems to "need" Denys. The question is not whether he will realize this in time before he loses her, but whether or not fate will turn their lives into a tragedy or allow them to form a true relationship. As Karen says:
"When the gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers."
Karen seems the surrender to her fate and is able to experience a brief moment of ecstasy in her life even though she is wounded from the experience.
When you view this movie, there are various elements which hint at the ending, yet I didn't recognize them until viewing this the second time. This is a movie I watch every few years because I too once lived on a farm in Africa. It was not quite this romantic because I was still a child. This movie makes me terribly homesick because once we left Africa, we never went back. Africa seems a moment in time, maybe everyone should live there once. When I watch this movie I need a big box of tissues!
The best moment in the movie is when Farah asks Karen to build a very big fire so he will know where to find her. It is a moment so beautiful and poetic, I've not seen anything like it in any other movie. I appreciated this movie more now that I'm in my 30s and married than before when I was single and had just returned from Africa myself. This movie is contemplative and deals with complex issues.
Spectacular Scenery and Emotionally Satisfying.
~The Rebecca Review
Movie Review: "What matters to me is that you tried so hard."
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a real love story - with all of love's loneliness, desparations, fragilities, and infinite values. This movie is like a masterful painting, I want to stare at it and soak it in for long periods of time. I want to come back and look at it again when time and patience allow.
The story uses a repeated device where Karen (the female lead played by Meryl Streep) enjoys telling stories. Her method of telling a story is to ask the listener to start the story by making up one sentence. Initially, Robert Redford's character, Denys, starts with a sentence about a foreign woman in a foreign land. And Karen proceeds to weave an elaborate tale. The movie fast forwards as they lounge through several rooms until she finishes her storied romance with a telling reveal in front of a fire.
Karen learns she has syphilis, given to her by her philandering husband. She goes away for several months back home to Denmark to have it treated. After her long time away, she returns to Africa. Denys asks to take her on a safari. She resists plainly, "If you like me at all, don't ask me to do this." But she yields to his undeniable invitation. On safari, they spend a great deal of time talking one on one.
Karen asks, "Why am I here?"
Denys replies, "Because I wanted you to see all this . . . I wanted to show it to you. I thought you'd understand it."
Karen sips her drink, then says, "I had syphilis . . . That's why I went home."
Denys calmly responds, "I knew."
"They say I'll have a normal life now. But no children . . . The school. The farm. That's what I am now."
Denys disagrees firmly, "No."
And THAT, if you are lucky, is what the great loves of your life may change for you. When you think your world is thoroughly boundaried and defined, and when you think your activities and pursuits have been clearly labeled or assigned, a great love will show you new things you can become that you either always hoped for, or never knew how much you would enjoy.
Karen loses her ability to have children, but supported by Denys' ideas and insistent behaviors toward her, she does not lose her abilities to love, to help others, to tell her story, or to create. His persistence takes her outside her "homeland" perceptually, culturally, and role definably.
The title to the film, "Out of Africa," is perfect. The author, whose autobiographical story this film is about, never returned to Africa after her lover left her forever. And the film suggests you may leave where you have been and never return to that place, but that does not mean that place, or the events that took place there, will ever leave you.
On their next evening on safari, talking alone, Denys invites Karen to create another story. He starts by supplying her one requested sentence, "There was a young girl from Denmark who took passage on a steamer bound for the Suez." And Karen creates the story from his start.
I won't give away the ending to this beautiful film, but suffice to say, like most great romances, life throws some complications and tragedies their way. And one of the themes of this tale is that life may give you a romance that gives you only one great opening sentence. And sometimes your lover will not stay with you or finish the story with you, and your difficult choice will be whether or not to continue on, whether or not to write almost the entire story on your own.
"Only this time I will go ahead."
"It is far? Where you are going?"
"Yes"
"You must make this fire very big, so I can find you."
"I was beginning to like your things. You've ruined it for me, you know?"
"Ruined what?"
"Being alone."
There is a scene following a character's death in this film where the lover remaining is surrounded by the deceased's beloved collection of books. Possessions and things often get a bad rap. They say, "You can't take them with you." But when someone you love disappears forever, you may discover more value in their collected artworks, books, movies, photos, and artfully expressed writings & letters. Those "things" give us some of the only remaining glimpses of their love that gave us reasons to live, to share joy, and to create.
Movie Review: My Favorite Movie Ever! Action, Beauty & Drama!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my all time favorite movie ever! And the many Acadamy Awards it earned are all well deserved. It was the first DVD I took to my new condo in a forgein country and currently the only DVD there. I flew 2 copies on an airline in my suitcase,the second copy was a gift for a woman to young to have seen it when the movie was first made. My thoughts were that she might be inspired by the true story and strength of Karen Blixen played by Meryl Streep the lead charcater (although Robert Redford may have been billed as the lead actor and is mighty fine to look at, Meryl Streep made this movie). There is a whole new generation of young women out there who can be inspired by this true story. And some of us oldies out there who sometimes feel sorry for ourselves until we are reminded of the hardships that others have endured and the grace with which they have endured their circumstances.
The lead character Karin Blixen, moved away from her family to marry, left her home country to move to a place she had never set eyes on, encountered; hardship, disease, love & loss of love, financial difficulties, demonstrated leadership abilities in a country dominated by men, gained the respect of both men and women and what I liked best of all about her is that she had a wonderfully fullfilling, satisfying life during the best and worst of circumstances and always rose to make the best of everything with the dignity and grace of royalty. Not that I am man bashing, because I do love them, but she didn't need one to be a complete person and this is so refreshing, she relied on her own strength. Yes, women can be strong as all get out! Ladies, take note.
It is the most outstanding cinematography I have ever seen. The actual filming in Africa is so beautiful it has made me want to visit Africa more than anything I have ever seen to date. I personally wonder if the Rachel Ashwell, "Shabby Chic" look might have some roots from this movie set. The African home of the Danish, Karen Blixen filmed in this movie would be right at home with the Rachel Ashwell store in Santa Monica, CA or the Ralph Lauren Home Store in San Fransisco, CA - both my favorite stores. For decor lovers and animal lovers this movie never stops giving. Meryl Streep(Karin Blixen)has more than one exciting run in with lions and we think we have it tough with barking dogs, get real.
The musical score/soundtrack is to die for and can conjure emotion (real tears for a deepness of beauty, both for humanity and unmatched scenery) just from the sound of the songs associated with the scenes.
It's an action movie (lions, fire, whips and things of that sort, sorry no kung fu fighting, stabbing or gun fights), set in a far away, beautiful, sometimes dangerous land and a love story filled with twists and turns, beautifully filmed.
I can't even count how many times I have watched this movie over and over, more than Titantic. My favorite movie ever and I've had quiet a few years to be be viewing them.
Movie Review: Meryl stole my heart, and she's had it ever since...
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm new to the Meryl Streep fan club. Until recently I've just tolerated her presence in a film, but after being forced to watch some of her best material I've become to understand the appeal. `Out of Africa' was forced on me by my wife about three weeks ago because she swore I would love it, and I'm surprised to say that I did. Meryl does a beautiful job capturing the heart of this woman, the soul in her that, while was once dying away was able to be restored through the realizations of a love she had never felt before.
That woman is acclaimed author Karen Blixen who moved to Africa with her then husband Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) in order to start a cow farm only to find that her husband decided to use her mother's money to start a coffee plantation instead. Throughout the course of her rocky marriage she suffers from loneliness and despair knowing that her husband, who is always gone on hunting trips with his friends, is have affair after affair, and even though their marriage was more of an agreement (as in she wanted a title and he wanted her money) the feeling of being used starts to take a toll on out heroine. She soon meets and falls in love with a mysterious hunter Denys (Robert Redford) who may or may not be the man of her dreams.
Karen soon realizes that the lack of love she has for herself and her life course is what is making it difficult for her to really love Denys. I had a conversation prior to watching this film with a friend who swore she hated `Titanic' because the love affair between Jack and Rose was unbelievable. In the same breath she told me how I needed to watch `Out of Africa' for it was one of the greatest movies ever made. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I felt that the love affair between Karen and Denys was stale and cold. I was never really convinced they truly loved one another. To me though, that doesn't really take away from the point of this film which was about empowerment and realizing your dreams and potential. Plus, Meryl was so spot on here it brought the film to entirely different level (I'm serious, I am a die hard Streep fan now!).
To me this is a different kind of love story, not between man and woman but between a woman and herself, learning to love her lot in life and make it the best she can despite what anything or anyone throws at her. Karen was a strong willed and passionate woman who was guarded and help captive by the men in her life who all but tied her down, and as she grew she realized she could easily break away and be the woman she always knew she should be. I felt it a wonderful film, one to be enjoyed again and again.
Movie Review: Sydney Pollack's Best Film
Summary: 5 Stars
John Barry's thundering score is like a flight of brightly colored parrots over the Kenyan jungle. It stops and starts in graceful arabeqsues and half turns, disappearing into discordance from time to time, then suddenly reappearing, like a flash of rainbow, over the serengeti.
You can almost imagine tthe sharp, hygienic stillness of the animals massed under the sun at high noon, and then you can hear them splashing playfully in the frothy high waters while celebrating birth, life, death, the brutal facts they revel in. All the while in another corner of the screen Meryl Streep is intoning, in a difficult accent, the drama of possession, "I had a farm in Africa." For many of us who grew up in the 1980s, this movie is the most romantic ever made, and John Barry's amazing score ranks as high as Jerome Moross' similarly flamboyant score for THE BIG COUNTRY. Robert Redford never looked as tall as he did playing Denys Finch Hatton, the reckless adventurer who brokers safaris for heartlessly callous European and American parties, men and women who don't seem to care that they're trampling across the lives and rights of the native people. In this way, Finch Hatton is implicated in the continued oppression of the indigenous population, and this of course complicates his relationship to Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), a shadowy affair of deeply submerged desires and the domain of the senses versus the intellect.
He knows how to think of a story, but she can out trump him by continuing it, picking yuo the strands of story elements both said and unsaid, and riding them triumphantly like a witch on a broomstick. There's something magical about her storytelling talent, that puts him in awe, and yet she's an ordinary woman in another sense, and when she falls in love, it not only empowers her but it makes her vulnerable. Rather it increases her vulnerability, for no matter how blithely she strides around the plantation, she's still very much a stranger in a strange land, far from her native Scandinavian, and plus she has syphilis contracted from a husband she doesn't even care enough about to think of him as a beast. It's all very sad, and when Redford offers to wash her hair, this simple moment becomes an allegory for the way in which two strangers can meet and purify each other with questions, answers, and a simple pitcher of cool Serengeti water.