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Rating: 2 out of 5
I want to say that Out of Africa is one of the most boring Best Picture winners I have ever seen. I have never been so bored in my life while watching this film. Now, I want to make sure I do this correctly because it bit me in the ass when I reviewed Saving Private Ryan thinking it won Best Picture only to find out that it lost to Shakespeare in Love. Well, I officially can say that this film shouldn’t have won and should’ve lost to The Color Purple. Yea, I said it. Out of Africa, huh? Should’ve kept this film there and explored a different region because this film was terrible in my eyes.
Out of Africa is a film based loosely on the 1937 autobiographical book Out of Africa written by Isak Dinesen, the pseudonym of Danish author Karen Blixen, with additional material from Dinesen’s 1960 book Shadows on the Grass and other sources. The film starts with Karen Blixen (Streep) recalling her past life in Africa. She moved in 1913 as an unmarried wealthy Danish woman. At first, Blixen was cast aside by her Swedish nobleman lover. In return for not wanting to be single, homegirl asks his brother, Baron Bror Blixen (Brandauer), to marry out of mutual convenience. The couple decided to move to Nairobi, British East Africa. Bror goes on ahead while Karen follows behind. On her way, she runs into a big-game hunter named Denys Finch Hatton (Redford), who knows her fiancé and entrusts his haul of ivory to her. When Karen arrives, Bror immediately suggests they get married in a few hours, which they do. At dinner and wanting to set up a dairy farm, she learns that her husband spent her money on a coffee plantation. Things turn sour when Karen finds out that her husband is always away on business and getting majorly freaky with other women. The dude can’t keep his thang out of other women. As Karen struggles to get her farm started along with bonding with many of the villagers, she eventually falls in love with Denys. They spend a considerable amount of time with each other. As she wants more from their relationship and pushes him to put a ring on it, Denys pretty much puts up the deuces because he loves that freedom and is not a one-woman man. Through these trials and tribulations, she learns more about the African culture and gets some much-needed respect from her peers.
Let’s start off with the good in this film. Honestly, the best part of the film is the scenery or cinematography. Looking at the motherland of Africa is always nice to see. The one scene that highlighted this the most was when Karen and Denys go on this epic flight over the lands. You got to see the red mountains and wildlife. Another scene that showed some nature was when Karen came face to face with the lioness. That lion was licking her lips for a snack and then rolled out.
The other highlight of this film was the performances of Meryl Streep as Baroness Karen von Blixen (née Dinesen) and Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton. Let me talk about the G.O.A.T for a second. The wonderful and amazing Meryl Streep. This might not have been her best role, but Meryl is the only reason I watched this film and was somewhat interested. I felt like without Meryl, I wouldn’t care about the character. She was passionate when she needed to be and strong-willed at other times. Robert Redford played Denys as the charming hunter who lived in Africa and wanted freedom. He couldn’t be tied down, but he seemed just so cool and calm. Dude played New Boyz – Tie Me Down loud and proud.
Now for the story and movie. I have never been so bored watching the drama unfold. First, let’s start off with that fake ass marriage. How the hell are you going to get married to someone’s brother that was your fiancé? Makes no sense, and then he spends your money on crops you don’t even want. The movie showed the struggles Helen went through to make her farm profitable. I liked how she helped the village and that one kid who people thought wouldn’t be able to walk again but soon could. I also liked how the men in the film came to respect her and her time in Africa. Case in point, when Karen first arrived in the motherland of Africa, the old white dudes wouldn’t let her in the whiskey club because no women were allowed. At the end, when she showed that she was better than any man, the old white dudes gave her major respect and props and let her have a drink, and toasted her.
Now the romance of this film was meh. Actually, I wasn’t impressed and felt like it was nothing new at all. Like I said before, homegirl got married to her fiancé’s brother and then expected him to be faithful. Now I understand her getting mad because he spent her money and should’ve whipped his ass but don’t expect dude to be faithful. Also, Karen should’ve cut off his dick when she found out he gave her syphilis, where she couldn’t have children. Yup, should’ve cut off his tiny dick. This leads her into the arms of Denys. He wanted to tap that ass, but the second she wanted more, he put up the deuces. With all of this, how is this a love story?? Makes no sense.
No lie, Out of Africa just didn’t hit right for me. I actually wasn’t impressed at all. I’m disappointed that this film won the Best Picture award over the Color Purple or Witness. Streep and Redford’s performances stand out along with the scenery in the movie. After that, the plot and love story is meh. Honestly, if you need a long movie to watch, then have fun with this one because it will help you pass the time.
