Best Picture: Out of Africa

Out of Africa, the real-life but fictionalized tale of a woman who married a guy out of convenience and moved to Africa to farm and then fell in love with a loner-type safari hunter, won the Oscar for Best Picture for1985. Of course other things happen to this woman, played by Meryl Streep, notably getting syphilis. The surprised me.

This movie is really one of those epic Hollywood love stories, like Casablanca or The English Patient. Or at least it's supposed to be. Streep plays Karen Blixen, the aforementioned woman who moves to Africa and then experiences all sorts of things. Her love interest is Denys, played by Robert Redford. To me, Redford is always playing a variation of the same character; he never brings any depth or uniqueness to the characters he portrays. But he's certainly nice to look at. When the movie came out, Redford's star power was slightly in decline, but Streep's was red hot having already done Silkwood and Sophie's Choice (both of which netted her Oscar noms). Redford is top-billed, even though Streep is clearly the star of the film.

These two fall in love, obviously, even though Karen is married. It's just a marriage of convenience though, so we're supposed to think it's okay that Denys moves in with her and they are a couple. I honestly didn't care about that though. I was disappointed that Karen turned into a naggy woman desperate to not just be loved, but to have that love be proved by getting married. She gives Denys an ultimatum, which is never a good idea. It's supposed to prove their love or something, but ultimatums are never a good idea.

This movie was long and not terribly interesting. It needed to be edited (director Sydney Pollock, who won Best Director for this film) was really in love with shots of the landscape. This film was up against The Color Purple (which was entirely shut out) and Witness (which I think should have won because it's masterful). Streep is great at accents, but an accent does not a compelling character create.

I would recommend skipping this and watching Witness instead.