I had a farm in Africa! Those words, wonderfully spoken by the great Meryl Streep, immediately pull you into the movie and from the first moment on, you are hypnotized by the gorgeous landscape, the beautiful music and the great performances. Even though there are several movies I have yet to see, this one is definitely somewhere on top of my list of the greatest movies ever. Sometimes you'll come across a movie that will keep you thinking for days and weeks to come and in my opinion, this is one of those movies.
The plot centers around Karen Blixen, who moves to Africa with Baron Bror Blixen, and marries him there. She is not in love with him and her real interest in him is his title, which he is quite aware of. Karen, who is not familiar with the African language or customs, struggles at first to establish her person, but with her kindness and eagerness soon starts to make people respect her. She also meets Denys Finch Hatton and Berkeley Cole, who are captivated by her way of telling stories. When the war breaks out, Bror leaves to fight with the British and Karen starts to realize that she actually wants him to be there for her. After a tragedy strikes, she has to accept that her wish will never come true and she starts turning to Denys...
In my opinion, there are several key things that make this movie the masterpiece it is. First of all, the acting is probably some of the best I've ever seen, especially from Meryl Streep. It is true, that there are few, if any actresses, who can keep up her with her strong presence and aura. She completely vanishes in her role as the ambitious, but left alone Karen Blixen and brilliantly shows us the conflict her character is in. Robert Redford's performance is nothing short of hers, and it is a scandal that he did not receive an Oscar nomination for his role as Finch Hutton, a charismatic hunter, who is just not willing to form a bond with anyone to closely. Klaus Maria Brandauer also deserves a nod at his point. He frequently manages to dominate the scenes he is in, even though he has a lot less screen time than Redford or Streep, a shame. The rest of the supporting cast, especially Michael Kitchen as Berkeley Cole, Malick Bowens as Farah and Michael Gough as Lord "D", also stand out.
Africa has rarely been more beautiful on screen, than in this movie. During the plane sequence were are invited into a world of the unknown and the undiscovered, and the score by John Barry will most certainly give you goosebumps. The main theme is used several times throughout the film and every time it is more beautiful than the time before.
To be honest, the only shocking thing about this movie, is the low rating on IMDb. A 7.0 is not what Out of Africa deserves, and in my opinion it should be among the Top 250. Rarely a movie has captured me as much as this movie did. Watch it and you won't regret it, I promise
The plot centers around Karen Blixen, who moves to Africa with Baron Bror Blixen, and marries him there. She is not in love with him and her real interest in him is his title, which he is quite aware of. Karen, who is not familiar with the African language or customs, struggles at first to establish her person, but with her kindness and eagerness soon starts to make people respect her. She also meets Denys Finch Hatton and Berkeley Cole, who are captivated by her way of telling stories. When the war breaks out, Bror leaves to fight with the British and Karen starts to realize that she actually wants him to be there for her. After a tragedy strikes, she has to accept that her wish will never come true and she starts turning to Denys...
In my opinion, there are several key things that make this movie the masterpiece it is. First of all, the acting is probably some of the best I've ever seen, especially from Meryl Streep. It is true, that there are few, if any actresses, who can keep up her with her strong presence and aura. She completely vanishes in her role as the ambitious, but left alone Karen Blixen and brilliantly shows us the conflict her character is in. Robert Redford's performance is nothing short of hers, and it is a scandal that he did not receive an Oscar nomination for his role as Finch Hutton, a charismatic hunter, who is just not willing to form a bond with anyone to closely. Klaus Maria Brandauer also deserves a nod at his point. He frequently manages to dominate the scenes he is in, even though he has a lot less screen time than Redford or Streep, a shame. The rest of the supporting cast, especially Michael Kitchen as Berkeley Cole, Malick Bowens as Farah and Michael Gough as Lord "D", also stand out.
Africa has rarely been more beautiful on screen, than in this movie. During the plane sequence were are invited into a world of the unknown and the undiscovered, and the score by John Barry will most certainly give you goosebumps. The main theme is used several times throughout the film and every time it is more beautiful than the time before.
To be honest, the only shocking thing about this movie, is the low rating on IMDb. A 7.0 is not what Out of Africa deserves, and in my opinion it should be among the Top 250. Rarely a movie has captured me as much as this movie did. Watch it and you won't regret it, I promise