Out of Africa (film)

In 1985, the film Out of Africa was released, based loosely on the autobiographical book by Isak Dinesen published in 1937, as well as Dinesen's Shadows on the Grass and other sources. The movie received 28 film awards, including seven Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction, Sound) and three Golden Globes (Best Picture, Supporting Actor, Original Score).

Book and film

The book describes events during 1914–1931 concerning European settlers and the native people in the bush country of Kenya (British East Africa), from seaside Mombasa to Nairobi, from Mount Kenya to Kilimanjaro, as told from the lyrical, poetic viewpoint of Danish Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke. The book was continually in print during the 20th Century, reprinted by many publishers.

The film was adapted by Kurt Luedtke and directed by Sydney Pollack. It starred Meryl Streep, Robert Redford (as Denys), Klaus Maria Brandauer (as Baron Blixen), Michael Kitchen (as Berkeley Cole), Malick Bowens (as Farah), Stephen Kinyanjui (as Chief), Michael Gough (Delamere), Suzanna Hamilton (as Felicity who is based on famous aviatrix Beryl Markham), and supermodel Iman (in a cameo role as Mariammo).

Plot

The film opens in Denmark as an older Karen Blixen (Streep) briefly remembers hunting in Denmark, then the years she spent in Africa (1914–1931). Looming large in her memory is the figure of Denys Finch Hatton (Redford), a local big-game hunter she met when she arrived in Africa to start what she thought would be a dairy farm together with her husband, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke (Brandauer).

Things turn out differently for her than anticipated, as the blue-blooded but poor Baron has used her money to purchase a coffee plantation instead of a dairy farm. He also shows little inclination to put any work into it, preferring to hunt game instead. While from the beginning, their marriage is depicted as mostly symbiotic (her family has money, while the Baron has a title), Karen does eventually develop feelings for him and is distressed when she learns of his affairs.

To make matters worse, she contracts syphilis from her philandering husband, which at the time was a very dangerous condition, necessitating her return to Denmark for a possible cure using the (1910) medicine Salvarsan (before the advent of penicillin).

After she has recovered and returned to Africa, a relationship between her and Denys begins to develop. However, after many unsuccessful attempts at turning their affair into a lasting relationship, she realizes that Denys is as impossible to own or tame as Africa itself. His eventual death in a plane crash is foreshadowed in the movie by the tale of Maasai people who would perish in captivity. At his funeral in the Ngong Hills, as Karen prepares to toss a handful of soil into the grave, she hesitates, then turns away from the other Europeans, brushing her hand instead through her hair, in the native custom.

As coffee prices have dropped dramatically after the First World War, Karen is forced to give up the plantation and return to Denmark where she becomes an author, writing about her experiences in Africa. In the film Karen is forced to return to Denmark after a catastrophic fire that destroys her entire crop of coffee.

Production

The movie tells the story as a series of six loosely coupled episodes from Karen's life, intercut with her narration. The final narration, about Denys's grave, is from her book Out of Africa, while the others have been written for the film in imitation of her very lyrical writing style. The pace of the movie is often slow, reflecting the book, "Natives dislike speed, as we dislike noise..." [Out of Africa, p. 252].

Out of Africa was filmed using descendants of several Kikuyu named in the book, near the actual Ngong Hills outside Nairobi, but not there inside Karen's (second) 3-bedroom house "Mbagathi" (now the museum). The shooting took place in her first house Mbogani, just close to the museum, a milk farm today.

Fact vs. fiction

The movie quotes the start of the book, "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills" [p. 3], and Denys recites, "He prayeth well that loveth well both man & bird & beast" from Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which becomes the epitaph inscribed on Finch-Hatton's grave obelisk [p. 370].

However, the movie differs significantly from the book, leaving out the locust swarm, local shootings, Karen's writings with the German military, and down-scaling the size of her 4000 acre (16 km²) farm, 800 Kikuyu workers, and 18-oxen wagon.

It also takes liberties with Karen's and Denys'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 isn't mentioned. Denys took up flying and began to lead safaris after he moved in with Karen. The film also ignores the fact that Karen was pregnant at least once with Denys's child, but miscarried. Furthermore, Denys was English, though in the movie he is played by Robert Redford who is perhaps the epitome of the all-American movie star. Unlike Streep, Redford did not learn an accent for the role and so Denys is clearly portrayed as American in the film.

Soundtrack

The music for Out of Africa, including Mozart and African traditional songs, also has many 2nd-generation compositions by John Barry, based on his older music "temp-tracked" in film-editing by director Sydney Pollack, from previous Barry films, such as Born Free (1966), Robin and Marian (1976), and The Last Valley (1970-71) which inspired the music Flying over Africa, over Lake Nakuru's flamingos.

External link

• Out of Africa at the Internet Movie Database

es:Out of Africa fr:Out of Africa : Souvenirs d'Afrique he:זכרונות מאפריקה it:La mia Africa (film) ja:愛と哀しみの果て pt:Out of Africa ru:Из Африки (фильм) fi:Minun Afrikkani

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