Out of Africa
For the theory on the origin of modern humans sometimes referred to as the "Out of Africa" theory, see single-origin hypothesis. Film
name = Out of Africa | image = Out of africa poster.jpg | caption = | director = Sydney Pollack | writer = Judith Thurman,
Errol Trzebinski,
Karen Blixen,
Kurt Luedtke | starring = Meryl Streep,
Robert Redford,
Klaus Maria Brandauer | producer = Sydney Pollack | distributor = Universal Pictures | budget = ~ US$31,000,000 | released = 18 December 1985 (USA) | runtime = 161 min | language = English | imdb_id = 0089755 | }}
Out of Africa is an autobiographical book by Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of Karen Blixen), published in London: Putnam, 1937, New York 1938. In 1985, the film Out of Africa was released, based on the book (as well as Dinesen's Shadows on the Grass and other sources).* The book describes events during 1914–1931 of European settlers and the local tribesmen 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, directed by Sydney Pollack, and 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), and supermodel Iman (as cameo role Mariammo). The movie received 28 film awards, including seven Academy Awards (Art Direction, Cinematography, Director, Original Score, Best Picture, Sound, Adapted Screenplay) and three Golden Globes (Best Picture, Original Score, Supporting Actor).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 [Arsphenamine] (before advent of penicillin). [Correction, the film lends the thought that Karen contracts syphilis from her husband; however, according to a DVD release of the film (with special bonus features), the director reveals that her condition was inherited from her father, hence his suicide when Karen was only 10 years of age.]
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 and possibly marriage, she must realize that Denys is as impossible to own or tame as the African wildlife 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.
The movie tells this story as a series of six loosely coupled episodes from Karen Blixen'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 (Ngong means "knuckles") outside Nairobi, Kenya, but not there inside Karen's (second) 3-bedroom house "Mbagathi" (now the museum). The shooting took place in her first house Mbogani, just closed to the museum, a milk farm today. The scenery includes: the Great Rift Valley, lakes, Serengeti plain, Kilimanjaro, lion, zebra, buffalo, flamingo, monkey, umbrella acacia & coffee-plant flowers. Some native language/Swahili is spoken: Jambo Msabu, pole pole, etc. Also, the movie quotes the start of the book, "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills" [page 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 [Out of Africa p.370].
However, the movie draws on other writings & actual landmarks in Africa. Plus, the narrative and the flow of the movie differ significantly from the book, leaving out the locust swarm, local shootings, Karen's writings with the German military (about horses before the War), and down-scaling the size of Karen's 4000 acre (16 km²) farm, 800 Kikuyu workers, and 18-oxen wagon, for the film depiction.The music for Out of Africa, including Mozart & African traditional songs, also has many 2nd-generation compositions by John Barry (composer), based on his older music "temp-tracked" in film-editing by director Sydney Pollock, 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.*
*For cast/crew/awards: movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=36787
*book summary
*review of film score
*photos: Denys's gravesite in Ngong Hills
Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, by Judith Thurman, 1995.
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