Jenseits von Afrika

What a memorable gem of a movie!! I thought this film deserved every one of its seven Academy Awards it got. After viewing this film again I'm just stupefied why didn't Meryl Streep win Best Actress in this movie. The role of Karen Blixen was very complex and she performed it beautifully. This is probably right up there with "Sophie's Choice" and "Kramer vs. Kramer" both Award winning performances for her and this is right there with "Bridges of Madison County" and "A Cry in the Dark".

Syndey Pollock hit the nail right on the head with this classic beautiful cinematography. The acting is excellent by Streep, Redford, and Klaus Maria Brandeur. I liked the scene when Karen (Streep) wants her servant to address her by her name and he said "You are Karen, Sabu". I also loved the owl that she had in her room - it was a small one, but it was so cute and I loved it.

If you have a chance to rent this movie, please do - it is a classic. I love the beginning line "I had a farm in Africa" it was so moving!!

I had heard of this film quite alot but had never seen it. Today I did and was amazed. It is based on the life of a danish female author who moves to Africa. Meryl Streep is exellent as the lead role and keeps a believable danish accent all the way through the film. Robert Redford is also excellent as. But of course the best feature of this film is the beautiful African scnery. It captivates the viewer and I think even if the acting was poor the scenery would still make you like the film. I cannot think of any other film I have seen that has matched this one. I recommened it to anyone. This truly is a touching, marvellous film

This really is a beautiful movie. The cinematography is outstanding. The Kenyan landscape is truly majestic. It's no wonder why the Forerunners chose Voi as their location for the portal to the Ark (Halo 3 reference ;)).

Robert Redford was the MAN in this, as I'm sure he is in real life. His free spirit that he simply would not yield was commendable. I don't know how he wasn't even nominated for an Academy Award that year. Streep was very good too, and well deserving of her award.

At 2 hours and 41 minutes it felt a little long. I did not watch it through one sitting, and I think it would have been difficult had I done so.

Karen Blixen left Africa knowing exactly how special of a place it was. From the people to the animals and the land itself, there's nothing quite like it. I just hope we as the human race can preserve this precious place, and not the opposite.

My favorite movie of all time, hands down. I watched it for the first time in the theatre. As it ended, the audience sat motionless and quiet for several beats, then burst into loud applause as the ending credits rolled. I'm not always so prophetic, but I was incredibly moved. I said to my husband, "We've just seen the Academy Award winner." If I had no other basis for recommendation, I would say the breathtaking cinematography and transporting musical score would make a viewing worthwhile (case in point: the main theme playing as Denys Finch Hatton gives Karen Blixen her first airplane ride, and we what she sees, as God must have seen it). But these are merely the window dressings.

There are two movie cuts floating around, which I tried to pursue through Universal, and then Disney. Forget it. Suffice to say there is a theatrical version and a Disney TV version, with little consequential difference to the plot except that the latter edits out a little of Karen's physical lovemaking with Denys and slightly expands her intellectual relationship with Farah; which to some degree helped buttress the development of his absolute devotion to her.

The screenplay resembles Isaak Dinesen's semi-autobiographical book very little; even so, she did not tell the whole truth in her book. You'll have to get over it, except that I think the character development suffered the loss of Blixen's deep involvement with the displaced Kikuyu tribe working her coffee plantation. Also, without an understanding of the historical times, it would be too easy to say simplistically that this is a woman trying to live within the terms of a marriage of convenience and then compensating with pursuit of a doomed passion.

What was crafted out of a mishmash of a more-or-less factual account and director Sydney Pollack's vision is still a beautiful love and adventure story in the midst of British colonial rule and an earlier, more racially and sexually biased era.

Klaus Maria Brandauer as Baron Bror von Blixen (whew! - who called Karen "Tannen," adding to my initial confusion) perfectly portrays that fun man you like immensely but could never really trust with anything important like your feelings. He along with several of the key male figures and symbols in this movie will eventually bow in respect to the "man" Karen Blixen becomes despite his often shabby treatment and other travails, because she rises above it all and perseveres. Redford plays mostly Redford. His Finch Hatton's sense of independence is fragile and illusory and will ultimately cost him dearly.

There are a couple of continuity problems that bother me to this day, including the disappearing-reappearing champagne and the continually retracking parade marchers, but for the most part few expenses or attentions to detail were spared, especially in the lavish costuming. "Bare-breasted native women" will unfortunately also make their National Geographic appearance.

Even so, Out of Africa is a treasure with a half dozen or more perfect and unforgettable scenes; a movie as long as this review, but I hope you'll agree, worth your patience.

a film with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford could not be more than a good one. the African landscapes, the music, the cast are virtues in same measure. but the real surprise is the wise balance between emotions, love story, decisions of the lead characters. the science to use a book for explore the nuances of a form of survive far to well- known places. the precise - delicate portrait of relationship and about the status/roots in a different society. and, sure, the high poetry of images - parts of inspired music. a film for remind and discover. small, seductive, bitter details. and for understand a part from a non ordinary biography. more than a good film, a surprising one. for a kind of magic who rebuild a lost form of romanticism and adventure.