Out of Africa            

By Tom Keogh

Sydney Pollack's 1985 multiple-Oscar winner is a sumptuous and emotionally satisfying film about the life of Danish writer Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), better known as Isak Dinesen, who travels to Kenya to be with her German husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer) but falls for an English adventurer (Robert Redford). The film is slow in developing the relationship, but it is rich in beautiful images of Africa and in the romantic tone surrounding Blixen's gradual discovery of her life and voice. One downside: while we may all love Redford, he is as convincingly British as Kevin Costner is in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Academy Awards

Out of Africa received an Academy Awards for Best Picture (Sydney Pollack - Producer), Directing (Sydney Pollack), Writing (Best Screenplay based on material from another medium; Kurt Luedtke), Art Direction/Set Decoration (Stephen Grimes - Art Direction, Josie MacAvin - Set Decoration), Cinematography (David Watkin), Music Scoring Awards (Best Original Score; John Barry), Sound (Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander, Larry Stensvold, Peter Handford). It also received nominations for Actress (Meryl Streep), Supporting Actor (Klaus Maria Brandauer), Costume Design (Milena Canonero), and Film Editing (Fredric Steinkamp, William Stienkamp, Pembroke Herring, Sheldon Kahn).

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