Out of Africa

This was a well acted film about Karen Blix. I have viewed it a few times, and now own my video copy, and still have both my VHS film player, as well as my DVD player. One can view this now, online, but , it is a good idea to have a DVD copy. The heroine was a real person, from Denmark; and, I really have always enjoyed Biographies about famous people and their own accounts and adventures. The film is Meryl Streep and Robert Redford at their best. There is, a huge amount of artistic licence in this film, as well as political licence, but, it is very entertaining! A real must to follow and even can be viewed several times, without boredom! I think it is a classic . . . (the style of films, was, unfortunately, in the USA, in the 1980 's, more explicit than I would have wanted for very young people, and I am prudent, because, for my beliefs, "purity" is important in Heaven ! Jesus Christ loathes impurity . . . However, for "adult" viewers, and married people, it is a really enjoyable film !

I saw this movie on its original theatrical release and was utterly blown away, it deserved every Oscar it won; over the years I've owned this movie in multiple formats, VHS, DVD, Bluray and now 4K. None of these formats provided the visual grandeur of the film experience until the 4K release; this transfer is absolutely spectacular! The colors are saturated, the images crystal clear and the soundtrack is perfectly mixed; this transfer truly brings the magic of the theatrical film to home theaters. Highly recommended.

I had my “African period” once, when it was so near. Five years, 1979-84, and save for a month in Morocco (which some might say does not count) in 1990, I have not been back…save by books. More recently I’ve read books by Africans themselves, like Moses Isegawa and Alain Mabanckou. In the “African period” I read mainly books by those of European descent. There were those by males, Alan Paton, Ryszard Kapuscinski and Ernest Hemingway. It was three women however who helped put the “awe” into my appreciation for Africa. Each got some dirt under their fingernails – they were farmers. Each inspired visits with words of their experiences. Olive Schreiner wrote “The Story of an African Farm.” Elspeth Huxley wrote “The Flame Trees of Thika.” And Karen Blixen, under the pen name, Isak Dinesen, wrote “Out of Africa,” which was first published in 1937 and commenced with the subject line. Sidney Pollack directed the movie, which was released in 1985. Two big-named Hollywood stars, Meryl Streep, who played Baroness Blixen and Robert Redford, with his perpetually perplexed expression, played the independent English hunter, Denys Finch Hatton, who would eventually become the paramour of Blixen. Klaus Maria Brandauer, played Blixen’s philandering husband, who gifted her with some syphilis, back in the pre-antibiotic days when the poison, mercury, was the treatment, which worked in Blixen’s case. The two were eventually divorced. And Africa, well, it played itself and Pollack has his camerapersons reinforce the “awe.” Can watching a movie that sorta glorified the colonial period be “politically correct” nowadays? Well, at one level, I don’t care, but I think that Pollack did a good job of showing a lot of the warts, shorn of the glory. Blixen, for example, is not allowed into the men’s only club. And as she must have done in real life, she did go to considerable lengths to ensure that the natives were given a better deal, on land that was once theirs, as she dramatically states on her knees. I liked watching the interactions between Streep and Redford, depicting relationships from the days when, as Bob Dylan once sung, in “Tom Thumb’s Blues”: “And you try not to go to her too soon.” Best to make sure you wait at least an hour, sometimes a metaphorical one. And I loved the scene of confrontation between Blixen’s husband and Denys when the former said: “You might have asked, Denys.” Redford comes back with: “I did, and she said Yes.” Furthering the realism, shorn of the glory, as Marguerite Duras attested, in far off Indochine, many colonists were far from wealthy and lead rather hardscrabble existences. The one off-note in the film was the impressive stone home the Blixens lived in, almost certainly much better than the initial homes built before 1913. As Huxley says of her experience: we built a house of grass and ate off a damask cloth spread between packing cases. As for Blixen, assorted disasters on the farm eventually forced her to return to Denmark, in 1931, destitute. A good movie that evoked a bit of nostalgia for my own experiences of four decades ago, and a yearning to return to the continent. Algeria might be a good start, even though some might say that doesn’t count either. 5-stars for Africa, the awe, and a couple very good actors.

Out of Africa, (1985). ”I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.” One of the best-known, best-loved opening lines of any movie. Thus starts Sydney Pollack’s Oscar-winning epic romantic drama, beloved around the world, OUT OF AFRICA, based on the classic book by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), of the same name that opens with the same unforgettable sentence. Also other writings of Dinesen’s, and Judith Thurman’s monumental biography of the author. Dinesen’s book and movie concern Denmark native Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) , who enters into a marriage of convenience with womanizing Swedish baron Bror Blixen. Then, hoping to make a better life, the couple, in the early twentieth century, moves to Nairobi, in the British colony of Kenya, where they establish a coffee plantation that Karen eventually must run on her own. Karen is no pushover, but her life is complicated by troubles on the plantation, World War I, her insistence on schooling the natives and her catching syphilis, then often deadly, from her husband. And then she falls passionately in love with free-spirited hunter Denys Finch Hutton, well-educated handsome son of an earl, (Robert Redford) who can't be tied down. Director Pollack is also well-known for the wise comedy TOOTSIE. His lush African period drama earned seven Academy Awards, including statues for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. I haven’t the skills – who has—to do justice to this great biography/ period drama based on classic literature, and I doubt the readers need those encomiums from me, so I will content myself with a few more sentences on the film proper. To begin with, of course, the cast is outstanding: multi-Oscar winning/nominated Meryl Streep as Karen; Pollack’s lifelong friend Robert Redford as Denys; Klaus Maria Brandauer as Bror. Also some outstanding British actors: a young Michael Kitchen, Michael Gough, Suzanna Hamilton, Rachel Kempson, Graham Crowden, Leslie Philips. Some outstanding African actors: Malick Bowens, Joseph Thiaka, Stephen Kinyanjui., Mike Bugara, Iman and Job Seda. The wonderfully evocative score by John Barry that delivers the soul of the great Continent of Africa. And, of course, Africa itself, unnamed costar of the film: Pollack at one point says “If the Garden of Eden is anywhere, it is surely here.” What I can talk about is that I went to Kenya last month to see all this for myself. Saw the Masai Mera, thousands of animals, every breed. The hippo-filled rivers that once ran sparkling clear. The mountains. Learned that Nairobi, once a dusty little railroad town, now proud capital of former British colony Kenya, has an area called Karen after Blixen, another called Muithaiga, after the club the settlers went to to play golf, drink, dance and get into trouble. I saw Blixen’s house, so evocative, much as represented on screen. With old Victrola and vinyl records. And a tiny kitchen lacking electricity and running water, in which her incomparable chef prepared a feast she served the Prince of Wales: the menu still hangs in the house. And some coffee plants. The machinery used on the farm. Saw the still in existence Muthiaga Club, though only from a distance, as it is now a pricey private golf club. Managed a daytime plane ride over the Mera, still incomparably beautiful. Then and now, the population: Masai, Kikiyu, the occasionally tall beautiful Somali – like former model Iman—all speaking Swahili. Learned a word in Swahili: dawa. Medicine. I wasn’t that well. A notable Indian colony then and now. And now, more Chinese than there ever were, which is a subject for another time. If somehow you have never seen this film, you must, particularly if you’re female. Just have a box of tissues nearby.

Great movie took a long time to get it was out of area

Great movie

Beautiful film. I paid for it, i never got it.

Ein toller Film, den ich schon gesucht habe

La transferencia es grandiosa, lo único malo es que el 4K no viene con otros subtítulos que no sea en inglés, lo que me parece un desatino para las personas que no saben ese idioma.

Out Of Africa is an engaging epic story about what life was actually like for a strongly natured Danish woman. This courageable lady embarked on a newly pastured life with her husband in this beautiful continent by setting up a coffee plantation. The story is actually true. It is based on the bestselling novel adoption by Karen Blixen converted to a featured length movie. The movie makes you feel though you are actually in Africa. It is truly a beautiful continent, filled with out of the world scenery, a rich tribal history and boosts a diverse wildlife. Imagine the horrible thought of being confronted by a pride of lions. The soundtracks to the movie are excellent, as the spirit of Africa is echoed in the comfort of your own home and the true African experience emerges. The storyline to the movie is superbly written and directed. No surprise that it wins an academy award, as it contains all the ingredients which propel its status as one of the greatest movies of all time. The characterisation is viewed in the right light, as it features a strong natured women who developed a special bonding with the continent and attracted to the charms of an English adventure list. The chemistry between the two is the pivotal point of the movie. Does her relationship last long? Does her coffee plantation survive in the story? Does the story reach a happy climax? All will be revealed in the movie. You will be emotionally touched by the way I felt, when engaged in the movie Out of Africa is an outstanding movie that is an epic and romantic story about life in this truly beautiful continent. You will be really absorbed in this movie and really feel sympathy for the remarkable character of Karen and admire her courage and determination to make dreams come true. The acting is of the highest calibre as if the characters are really genuine and exist in life. No one can beat this performance provided by outstanding acting from Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Out of Africa may not be everyone cup of tea as it is slow paced and requires immense patience to watch. If you love and appreciate a fulfilling and rather emotional story, Out of Africa will appeal to you and a great collector item in your DVD set.