Thoughts on Out of Africa

 

via The Best Picture Project/courtesy Universal Pictures

"I don't know the scientific basis for it, but I know you can see further in the African night than any other place. And the stars are brighter."

Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, deceived me. I remembered an epic, with the supposedly necessary length and leads who are constantly gazing in awe at the land and its inhabitants. Director Sydney Pollack, the cast and crew, plus screenwriter Kurt Luedtke (and an uncredited David Rayfiel) expertly fulfill the National Geographic portion of their assignment. The "glimpse of the world through God's eye" sequence, beautifully scored by John Barry, is as thrilling as always. That said, I was amazed Pollack et. al didn't better disguise the occasionally obvious chroma keying. Anyway, I was most impressed by the smaller yet intense story of Baroness Karen Blixen, later known as Isak Dinesen (Streep), as her relationships and ambitions are shaped over nearly 30 years in Kenya.

For about Africa's first hour, I thought things like, "Redford got top billing for this?" I first saw more chemistry between Karen and Berkeley Cole (Michael Kitchen). Klaus Maria Brandauer received an Oscar nomination for playing Bror Blixen and I'd argue it's because the character somehow avoided being a flat villain for our boos and hisses. Establishing a coffee plantation when he and Karen agreed on a dairy, placing the plantation at his wife's feet, cheating and giving Karen the syphilis that will keep her from having children, increasingly mooching ... Karen sure paid for her marriage of convenience.

"I thought you might be wanting a divorce."

"... Has she got money? Of course she's got money. Is this important, Bror?"

"I suppose."

"Well, I'll have to accuse you of something. Or did you think you would have it the other way around?"

"Fire away. Whatever. I have surely done it. Thank you, Tania."

"How do you manage it? To keep us friends."

"We started that way."

"I'll be happy for you, if I can."

*A polite goodbye kiss*

"... I remember that quite well."

Not to take away from Brandauer, but I wonder if the Oscar voters also considered Kitchen and Malick Bowens as Farah, supporting performers less likely recognized. Here in 2020, it's slightly amusing and uncomfortable that Bowens' last line is "You are Karen, msabu." I've never read Blixen's works, but I know history continues to evaluate them and/or her. Vincent Canby, in 1985, observed that Karen "is part Scarlett O'Hara fighting to save Tara, part insensitive tourist marveling at the quaint customs of the local folk." In keeping with the golden age for a moment, I'm reminded of Peter Fonda saying that if Henry put too much emotion into his final speech in The Grapes of Wrath, it would have been absolutely ruined. I thought of that when watching Karen beg, but not pitifully, on behalf of the Kikuyu.

At the same time, it's to someone's credit that I didn't find Karen's scenes with the Kikuyu (particularly Joseph Thiaka as Kamante, who evolves from an injured youth to an accomplished, albeit stubborn, cook) as patronizing as they could have been. And the movie, through Denys Finch Hatton (Redford), does acknowledge that it's not a good idea for a white lady to look at people the way she does her farm and her china. Matthew Eng, in 2018, suggested that it's ultimately Streep and how she acts opposite the Black cast that undercuts any white savior message. I can buy that. Whether an acting choice or part of a full effort to mitigate Africa's problematic parts, I felt having Karen be increasingly respectful but not warm and fuzzy (until the very end with Farrah, and it's still at a distance) worked as part of the characterization.  

"I've been thinking. With all the safari work, I have little use for the room at the club. ... I don't know that I'd be any good at this, but how would it be if I kept a few things with you?"

"... You would come and go from my house?"

"If that's all right."

"When the gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers."

To this day, it's usually the length or Redford people cite when they complain about Africa. I wouldn't give him an Oscar for playing Denys Finch Hatton, but I didn't think he was especially awful. Yes, the contrast between Streep going to town with the Danish accent while Redford's playing an Englishman without a dialect is jarring. Yes, this is the movie where Redford stopped looking young (he was 48 during production). But honestly, the pairing clicked for me at roughly the same time it did for Karen. I first saw Africa without knowing the relationship was doomed. This time around, I still had some hope.

Africa was made during the height of TV miniseries and I sometimes wondered if that format would have been more suitable. The powers that be could also have gone the opposite direction, whittling it all down to just the romance. I'm glad they didn't. Denys, as Karen wrote, loved to hear a story told well. I think that doing so requires the wisdom that there's far too much to take in, confidence that what will be conveyed will still be dazzling and excitement in experiencing how it will all turn out.

"The mail has come today and a friend writes this to me: 'The Masai have reported to the district commander at Ngong that many times at sunrise and sunset they have seen lions on Finch Hatton's grave. A lion and a lioness have come there and stood, or lain on the grave for a long time. After you went away, the ground around the grave was leveled out into a sort of terrace. I suppose that the level place makes a good site for the lions. From there they have a view over the plain, and the cattle and the game on it.' Denys will like that. I must remember to tell him." 

Recommended.

Thoughts:
-- "People marry. It's not revolutionary. There are some animals that mate for life." "Geese." "You know, you use the damn animals for your own argument. You won't let me use them for mine." "I'd mate for life ... one day at a time." 

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $87.1 million domestically on a $28 million budget, this opened at No. 5, picked up steam after Christmas and came in at No. 5 for 1985.

-- Awards Watch: Africa was the champ at the 58th Academy Awards, scoring seven wins out of 11 nominations. The big prizes included Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. There were also wins for Barry's score, Stephen B. Grimes and Josie MacAvin's art direction, David Watkin's cinematography and the sound team of Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander, Larry Stensvold and Peter Handford. Africa, however, was an also-ran for Best Actress (Geraldine Page over Streep), Best Supporting Actor (Don Ameche over Brandauer), Best Costume Design (Emi Wada for Ran over Milena Canonero) and Best Editing (Thom Noble for Witness over the team of Frederick and William Steinkamp, Pembroke Herring and Sheldon Kahn).

-- The Golden Globes also recognized Africa, with wins for Best Picture-Drama, Brandauer and Barry. This time, Streep lost to Whoopi Goldberg, Pollack lost to John Huston and Luedtke lost to Woody Allen. Luedtke was a Writer's Guild of America nominee, losing to Prizzi's Honor, but he won the BAFTA, along with Wakin and the sound team. The BAFTAs recognized Maggie Smith for A Room with a View over Streep, Ray McAnally for The Mission over Brandauer, Room's costumes over Canonero's and Ennio Morricone's Mission score over Barry's.

-- Critic's Corner: Africa had "the courage to be about complex, sweeping emotions and to use the star power of its actors without apology," Roger Ebert raved. "With this performance, I've stopped fighting Meryl Streep," David Denby wrote. "She is a truly great actress." "(She is) nothing less than a fetching center of credible, closely-felt heartache throughout," Eng wrote. "I have yet to forget the way Streep simply looks at Redford, gazing at him with an interconnected intimacy that keeps this sweeping epic on a human scale." Ebert praised Pollack for "(understanding Redford's) special, somewhat fragile mystique." Variety also felt Redford played well opposite Streep, from the contrast between Denys' initially casual attitude and Karen's seriousness to his later acknowledgement of what their relationship has become. Denby again: "Perhaps I'm a sucker for this sort of Great Adventure stuff, but there are lovely quiet moments throughout the movie where the landscape simply breathes, and it's enough."

-- Detractor's Corner, the movie: Observing in People that Africa was presented as "the pearl before which we swine are meant to grovel," Peter Travers admitted the photography was gorgeous. "But don't call it art." John Guerin, The Film Experience: "Too prudish and gargantuan to inspire any real sensual pleasures." For all his praise, Denby did concede the movie "never catches fire," just as Variety admitted "too long is too long." "Just another piece of sentimental anti-imperialism, Hollywood style," Paul Attanasio wrote. Pauline Kael thought about Africa's role in the cinema canon. "This is 'classical' big-star narrative moviemaking, but without the logic, the easy-to-read-surface, and the sureness that contribute to the pleasure of that kind of picture." Finally, in 2015, Africa was No. 9 chronologically in Entertainment Weekly's gallery of Most Overrated Best Picture Winners. Adding insult to injury, the magazine also declared Kiss of the Spider Woman and Prizzi's Honor to be weak competition. 

-- Detractor's Corner, the actors: "Does anyone remember what she really sounds like?" Travers asked about Streep. Geraldine Page made a similar comment, "People are beginning to wonder if she can talk normal." Rita Kempley felt the pairing of Streep and Redford, two "mighty and evenly matched stars," never worked. "It's like ying and ying." Redford gave an "embarrassing non-performance," Denby wrote. Gene Siskel: "When you're watching a love story and you can't stand the character who is being loved, that makes for a very frustrating movie-going experience." "There's no role for him to act," Canby concluded. Attanasio got personal: "Gaunt and creased, he now looks like a New York anchorman on his last legs."

-- Memorable Music: The score is 60-46, with a point going to the original score as a whole. I will acknowledge that I'm more likely to think of "Flying Over Africa" on its own. Something I did not know until this year (thank you, Cali), was that the powers that be attempted to get an extra Oscar nod by adding lyrics to "Karen's Theme." The result was "The Music of Goodbye," a duet between Melissa Manchester and Al Jarreau which peaked at No. 16 in April 1986.

Courtesy YouTube

-- Hey, It's ...!: Michael Gough and Iman.

-- "(Karen has finished reading "To an Athlete Dying Young") Now take back the soul of Denys George Finch-Hatton, whom you have shared with us. He brought us joy and we loved him well. He was not ours. ... He was not mine. (She grabs dirt, but is unable to place it on his grave site, and walks away)"

-- Next: The Color Purple (Sunday) and ideally on Wednesday, Dec. 23, Brazil. On deck: Enemy Mine (Dec. 24) and The Trip to Bountiful (Dec. 26). Coming soon and possibly subject to change: Murphy's Romance (Dec. 27), Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (Dec. 28), The Stuff (Dec. 29), The Bride (Dec. 30), Smooth Talk (Dec. 31), Trouble in Mind (Jan. 1) and A Chorus Line (Jan. 2). The Films of 1985 will conclude Sunday, Jan. 3 with my year-end awards, plus a few bonuses.