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Out of Africa (1985)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
7/17
6/17:
When I think of Africa, two things that immediately come to my mind are: AIDS and big-game hunting.
Out of Africa has both except it's syphilis instead of AIDS. Long, superficial, episodic, detached, and quite frankly
boring, Out of Africa is the worst Best Picture Winner of the 80's. There's no question about it. I've seen every
Best Picture from 1966 to 2000 except for this one until now. Hence, it's not a big surprise why I managed to avoid
Out of Africa for thirty-two years. That's because the movie never looked interesting enough to compel me to pick it up.
I'll say one thing: Out of Africa deserved the Oscar for Best Cinematography. It's simply unbeatable,
notwithstanding the use of rear projection for several fake biplane shots. But...beautiful scenery alone does not make a great
picture. It just never works. What I saw is another The English Patient which is
almost the worst Best Picture Winner of the 90's, but I have to give the nod to
Shakespeare in Love. I don't care about the characters. They are so
unmemorable that I can't remember their names or what they look like. Nobody ages for a day over twenty years.
Frequently passionless, Meryl Streep is so fake that a woman, as well-read as her character is supposed to be, can't
be bothered with learning Swahili during her stay in Kenya. She doesn't speak one word of Danish, either. Already too old
for the role, Robert Redford, a pure-blooded American, is miscast as her British aristocratic love
interest. His character comes and goes whenever he damn well pleases. When it was announced he had passed away, it's
a "who cares?" moment that's followed by "just finish the damn movie already." I don't know how Robert Redford's
character, with his hair looking golden and perfect every single time, managed to keep his clothes
well-pressed. Was there an L.L.Bean store somewhere in Africa?
Two things I appreciate are the apparent lack of animal killing and the theme of white
supremacy. For a long while, I was critical if the filmmakers were going to show any big-game hunting, and they did
but...only in self-defense. Nice. So, that's how they managed to avoid the controversy because we can't have Robert
Redford looking bad. Moving on to the next one...
When the cook asked Memsahib if he could go with her to Denmark, she replied, "You would not like it there. You must
trust me about this." In other words, he's black and therefore not welcome in a country that's full of white people.
I got it...very crystal clear. Having said this, I can't imagine the people of color relating to the film.
By the way, the real Karen Blixen was a racist person who often compared black Africans to animals. She was described by her
contemporaries as somewhat odd and out of touch with reality which is like saying she was a "morally bankrupt white European
aristocrat." Karen Blixen's lifelong bouts with syphilis were rumored to be fabricated, and when she died, it was due to
anorexia nervosa.
And oh...yes, poor Memsahib lost everything. Her coffee plantation went up in flames. As a consequence, she decided to leave
Africa and never return again. That's funny because the natives seem happy in the film, being able to make do without
material things. Ah, it must be nice for Karen to have money and feel the luxury of being next to warm fire in her
expensive home. That brings up an important question: why the fuck do I have to care about any of the white characters in
Out of Africa? Exactly. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: the worst Best Picture Winner of the 80's!
All in all, Out of Patience is more like it.