725. Out of Africa (1985)

Running Time: 161 minutes
Directed By: Sydney Pollack
Written By: Kurt Luedtke, from novel by Isak Dinesen
Main Cast: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen, Shane Rimmer
Click here to view the trailer

A DOUBLE SHOT OF POLLACK: 2 of 2

Up early on my day off from work to put in overtime on the sixth leg of my journey, hoping to be finished up by this Saturday evening/Sunday morning. This a.m. I take a look at the second and last feature from Sydney Pollack, from THE BOOK - "Out of Africa".

Karen Dinesen (Streep), a wealthy, Danish woman asks her friend Baron Bror Blixen (Brandauer) to marry her. While he is a Baron, it seems that he's broke and since Dinesen is very wealthy, they agree to wed, move to Africa and start a dairy farm. The Baron arrives in Africa first and without the knowledge of Karen, instead purchases coffee seeds, instead of dairy cattle. This initial act of dishonesty upsets Karen and is a precursor to what she can expect from Baron Blixen. The Baron shows little to no attention to Karen, instead opting to hunt in the African wild and engage in extramarital affairs. Karen soon finds out about the Baron's infidelity when she contracts syphilis and is forced to return home to Denmark, to seek further medical attention. After a while, however, she returns, meets up with a friend she previously knew, Denys Hatton (Redford) and the two have an affair of their own, even before the divorce between her and the Baron is final. The two have an ultra romantic relationship, which includes flying over Africa in a plane and making up stories to tell to one another.

Son of a bitch, was this thing long! Not to mention boring! You know, I'm not even going to ask how "Out of Africa" won Best Picture, even though I didn't enjoy it one bit. I know how it won. This is the typical kind of movie that the Academy eats up and when you have people like Streep, Redford and Pollack at the helm, that only makes Hollywood go more gaga. The only thing - and I do mean the only thing - I liked about this picture was the score; a bit overpowering, but beautiful medley composed by John Barry. Now, I bet you're saying to yourself, "But what about that cinematography? Wasn't it simply breath taking?" Umm...no, not really. Okay, I guess it was pretty, but it was too pretty and usually overpowered everything else. There were times when I wanted to check to make sure my DVD player didn't accidentally shut off and perhaps, my television got switched to the National Geographic channel. The setting of Africa was more of a character than Karen Dinesen and Denys Haton and at times, it came off like a blatant effort to simply show the African countryside, wildlife included.

Oh, but maybe you're saying, "But what about Streep and Redford? Surely you can't disqualify their wonderful contributions to this film!" Oh yes I can. This film actually made me want to rethink my previous admiration for Robert Redford and wonder if the only reason I enjoyed him in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting" was because he was beside the wonderful Paul Newman and maybe something rubbed off. I didn't care for him in "The Natural" and as far as I'm concerned, he was awful in this. Awful, you say? He was just so blatantly acting, rather than being a man transforming into another man - becoming his character. All he was here was Robert Redford putting on a performance, that's it. And I just don't like Meryl Streep anyway. She always seems to play the same type of role, never challenging herself, usually going for the parts that are likely going to win her awards and keep her in her comfort zone. Everything about this film screamed "GIVE ME THE AWARD!", while I couldn't stop screaming, "LET IT BE OVER!"

RATING: 2.5/10  I can't really even justify that '2.5', except to say that a '2' seems to low and a '3' too high.

MOVIES WATCHED: 592
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 409

November 28, 2012  9:56am