Out of Africa, a 1985 American epic romantic drama, directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, stars Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
The book was adapted into a screenplay by Kurt Luedtke, and this screenplay was filmed in 1984. Streep played Karen Blixen, Redford played Denys Finch Hatton, and Klaus Maria Brandauer played Baron Bror Blixen. Others in the film include Michael Kitchen as Berkeley Cole, Malick Bowens as Farah, Stephen Kinyanjui as the Chief, Michael Gough as Lord Delamere, Suzanna Hamilton as Felicity, and the model and actress Iman as Mariammo.
Out Of Africa Behind the Scenes - Possession (1985) - Meryl Streep, Robert Redford Movie HD
The Story Begins
In 1913, after being rejected by a Swedish nobleman, Danish aristocrat Karen Dinesen proposes a marriage of convenience to the nobleman's brother, Baron Bror Blixen. They plan to move to Nairobi, British East Africa, where Bror intends to invest Karen's money in a dairy farm. She will join him a few months later, at which time they will marry.
Farah, the Somali headman Bror hired, greets Karen at the railway station. She is taken to the Muthaiga Club and enters the men-only salon seeking her future husband, but is soon asked to leave. Karen and Bror immediately marry and become Baroness Blixen.
Life in Africa
Karen learns that Bror has changed their plan and instead bought a coffee farm, but it is at too high an elevation to be very productive. Karen comes to love Africa and its people. She looks after the Kikuyu people who live on her land, establishes a school there, helps with their medical needs, and arbitrates their disputes. Meanwhile, she attempts to build a formal European homelife equal to other nearby upper-class colonists. She befriends a young woman, Felicity (whose character is based on a young Beryl Markham).
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Eventually, Karen and Bror's mutual feelings deepen, and they do consummate their marriage.
As World War I reaches East Africa, the colonists form a militia led by colonial patriarch Lord Delamere, which includes Denys and Bror. A military expedition searches for forces from the neighbor German colony of German East Africa. Responding to the militia's need for supplies, Karen leads a tiring and long expedition to find them and returns safely.
Karen contracts syphilis from Bror, returns to Denmark for treatment and recuperation while Bror manages the farm in her absence. Bror resumes his safari work upon Karen's return.
A relationship between Karen and Denys develops following an ambivalent kiss at a New Year's party, with their ultimately moving in with her in between his travels. Denys acquires a Gipsy Moth biplane and often takes Karen flying. After Bror expresses his desire to divorce and marry another rich woman, Karen asks Denys to solidify their relationship, but he prefers his autonomy and the status quo.
When Karen learns Denys is taking Felicity on a private safari, she confronts him about his refusal to have monogamous relations. He assures Karen he only wants her, but feels marriage is immaterial.
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The farm eventually yields a good harvest, but a fire destroys it and the factory, forcing Karen to sell out. Before leaving Kenya for Denmark, she appeals to the incoming governor to provide land for her Kikuyu workers and sells most of her remaining possessions at a rummage sale.
Denys visits the now-empty house. He says he no longer feels comfortable being alone and that his feelings for her have changed. Denys leaves for a safari scouting trip, promising to fly Karen to Mombasa when he returns.
Shortly after, Bror arrives to inform Karen that Denys' plane has crashed in Tsavo. Karen organizes his funeral, during which she recites an excerpt from an A. E. The members, having come to admire her, invite her into the men-only salon for a toast. Karen gives Farah a compass that Denys had given her and asks him to say her name so that she can hear his voice one last time.
The film tells the story as a series of six loosely coupled episodes from Karen's life, intercut with her narration. The final two narrations, the first a reflection on Karen's experiences in Kenya and the second a description of Finch Hatton's grave, were taken from her book Out of Africa, while the others were written for the film in imitation of her very lyrical writing style.
Casting and Filming
Klaus Maria Brandauer was director Sydney Pollack's only choice for Bror Blixen, causing problems finding a replacement when it appeared that Brandauer's schedule would prevent him from participating. Robert Redford became Finch Hatton, with Pollack thinking Redford had a charm no British actor could convey.
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Out of Africa was filmed using descendants of several people of the Kikuyu tribe who are named in the book, including the grandson of chief Kinyanjui who played his grandfather. Much of it was filmed in the Karen / Lang'ata area near the actual Ngong Hills outside Nairobi. The Chyulu Hills stood in for the less picturesque Ngong Hills. As Karen's farmhouse was at the time of filming a part of a local nursing school, the filming took place in her nearby first house "Mbogani", which is a dairy today. Her actual house, known as "Mbagathi" is now the Karen Blixen Museum.
The scenes depicting the Government House were shot at Nairobi School with the administration block providing a close replica of British colonial governors' residences. The train sequences were filmed along a section of abandoned track between Gilgil and Thompsons Falls some 97 km (60 mi) north west of Nairobi. The steam locomotive, taken from display in the Nairobi Railway Museum was non functional, therefore a diesel locomotive was hidden inside a box car behind the steam locomotive and the diesel pushed the train along while steam and smoke effects were provided.
Differences from the Book
Although bearing the name of Dinesen's book, the picture was actually taken from two other books (not written by her) as well. The film omits much of Dinesen's book, such as a devastating locust swarm, some local shootings, and her writings about the German army.
The movie also takes liberties with Denys and Karen's romance. They met at a hunting club, not in the plains. Denys was away from Kenya for two years on military assignment in Egypt, which is not mentioned. Denys took up flying and began to lead safaris after he moved in with Karen. The film also ignores that Karen was pregnant at least once with Finch Hatton's child but suffered from miscarriages.
Furthermore, Denys was an English aristocrat and son of 13th Earl of Winchilsea, but this fact was minimized by the hiring of the actor Robert Redford, an inarguably all-American actor who had previously worked with Pollack. When Redford accepted the contract to play, he did so fully intending to play him as an Englishman. Pollack, however, felt an English accent would be distracting for the audience, and told Redford to use his real accent.
The title scenes of the film show the main railway, from Mombasa to Nairobi, as traveling through the Kenyan Rift Valley, on the steep back side of the actual Ngong Hills. However, the real railway track is located on the higher, opposite side of the Ngong Hills.
The Soundtrack
The music for Out of Africa was composed and conducted by veteran English composer John Barry. The score included a number of outside pieces such as the second movement Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and African traditional songs. The soundtrack garnered Barry an Oscar for Best Original Score and sits in fifteenth place in the American Film Institute's list of top 25 American film scores.
The soundtrack was first released through MCA Records in 1985 and features 12 tracks of score at a running time of just over thirty-three minutes. In 1987, a Special Edition was issued that included the song "The Music of Goodbye (Love Theme)" by Melissa Manchester & Al Jarreau.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90/10.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and called it "one of the great recent epic romances," adding, "What we have here is an old-fashioned, intelligent, thoughtful love story, told with enough care and attention that we really get involved in the passions among the characters."
Vincent Canby of The New York Times described it as "a big, physically elaborate but wispy movie" with Redford's character "a total cipher, and a charmless one at that. It's not Mr. Redford's fault. There's no role for him to act."
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, and declared: "My basic problem with this otherwise sumptuous and well-acted film is that I never was able to accept Redford in character ... He seems distant to the point of distraction. He is not convincing in his period outfits.
Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "seems to be just the thing for famished culture mavens at Christmastime.
Pauline Kael of The New Yorker described the film as "unsatisfying" and wrote that Streep is "animated in the early scenes; she's amusing when she acts ditsy, and she has some oddly affecting moments.
Reviewing the film in 2009, James Berardinelli wrote: "Watching Out of Africa a quarter of a century after its release, it's almost impossible to guess how it won the Oscar for Best Picture ... Sydney Pollack's direction is quietly competent and the acting by Meryl Streep and Robert Redford is top notch. But the lazy story is little more than an ordinary melodrama that simmers without ever reaching a boil.
Awards
Out of Africa took home the statues for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Sound, and Best Original Score.
| Award | Category | Recipient |
|---|---|---|
| Academy Award | Best Picture | Sydney Pollack |
| Academy Award | Best Director | Sydney Pollack |
| Academy Award | Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | Kurt Luedtke |
| Academy Award | Best Cinematography | David Watkin |
| Academy Award | Best Art Direction-Set Decoration | Stephen B. Vaughan, Josie MacAvin |
| Academy Award | Best Sound | Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, Peter F. Kurland |
| Academy Award | Best Original Score | John Barry |
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