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Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in this sweepingly empty romance Out of Africa |
Based on Karen Blixen’s memoir of her 17 years (from 1913)
owning and running a coffee farm among the British community in Kenya, the film
reorganises a deliberately non-linear memoir (full of impressions and
reflections, thematically arranged) into a simpler narrative, and throws in
content from at least two biographies of Blixen (played by Meryl Streep). As
such, the film charts her life, specifically her relationship with philandering
and unreliable husband Bror (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and love affair with
British game-hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford).
Pollack directs this epic with a clean, smooth, professional
and lifeless tastefulness that makes it a long film full of pretty things, but
a fundamentally empty experience. At the film’s conclusion, Karen is invited
into the Men Only club for a drink where she is toasted. It feels like it
should be the culmination of plot threads running throughout the film. But instead,
its under-explored and unfocused, struggling for any attention. Rather than a
culmination of a nearly three-hour experience, the moment feels unearned.
That’s about par for the course for a film ticking all the
boxes of “prestige” movie making, but which tells us nothing at all. It’s clear
Pollack has only a limited understanding of the intricate rules of the British
upper-class community. We learn nothing about Africa, or the role of Empire there
or the impact this had on the Kenyan people. Instead, the Kenyan people are
seen as exotics or charming superstitious eccentrics.
The film is only interested in how beautiful colonial
Britain was – the lovely clothes, the sumptuous set-design, the detailed props –
and the gorgeous scenery. There is some focus given to the Kenyans –
particularly Karen’s relationship with her servant Farah, very well played by a
stern but wise Malick Bowens – but it is always defined as Karen visiting them,
encouraging their education and pleading for their rights. There is more than a
touch of the white saviour, and the film fails to really give us a sense of
Karen gaining an understanding of the Kenyan people on their own terms, rather
than hers.
That might be because the film is determined to turn the
story into a straight-forward romance, giving most of its focus to Karen’s
relationship with Denys. This is the root cause of most of the film’s problems,
as Pollack casts two fundamentally unconnected actors. Streep gives a
performance of such technical detail, you find yourself admiring the work while
never really connecting with the character. Her Danish accent is perfectly
studied, she has clearly read everything on Blixen she can find, and every
single beat is perfectly observed. You can’t miss she is acting in every frame:
there is nothing relaxed or truly intimate in the performance. It’s the work of
a master craftsman.
This detailed excellence literally feels like it is
happening in a different movie to the one Redford is in. Redford looks like he just
stepped off the plane and started shooting. Pollack was convinced no English
actor could play Denys in the sweeping romance he had in mind (Charles Dance
anyone? Michael Kitchen – very good as Denys’ best friend – is far closer to
what the part actually required, and would have been excellent). Redford
was parachuted in and encouraged to play the role with his natural accent (is
he still meant to be British? No idea).
The two performances never click together, and Redford’s
Californian approach feels totally wrong for the Houseman-quoting, Mozart-playing,
Great White Hunter he is meant to be. Not for one second can you forget this is
the Sundance Kid – making it nearly impossible to buy into this relationship
the film is trying to sell you, as well as making Streep’s Danish accent sound
out of place (I mean why is she going to so much trouble when Redford can’t be
arsed?).
All the romantic hair washing in the world can’t make these
two stop being a chemistry free, jarring couple. Take away the sort of epic
romance the film needs – the sort of thing The English Patient would do
so right 11 years later – and all you really have left are two handsome actors
in a very picturesque setting. Out of Africa looks lovely – but in a
National Geographic way. The African Plains look wonderful, you’d have to do a
poor job to make them look bad. Really the film is visually dull.
Pollack’s limitations as a director are revealed – he can’t
give this the sweep and sense of the epic it needs and he can’t find depth in
this canvas. Instead, everything is painted in the broadest brush strokes and
any sense of romance it gets is from John Barry’s exquisite, luscious score. The
film crams in as many shots of Africa as possible – but is bored witless by the
story-telling and poetry that are supposed to be at the heart of Denys and
Karen’s relationship. It rips the heart out of these two characters and their romance.
Out of Africa won all those Oscars – but feels like a
box-tick exercise. Like the voters just thought everything in it must
have been Oscar-worthy. 1985 was a poor year for movies – perhaps only Ran,
Brazil and Back to the Future have really grown in stature – but Out
of Africa feels like the emptiest, least interesting, least effective
prestige picture that ever scooped the Oscar. Nothing sticks in the memory –
other than the repeated “I had a farm in Africa” line in Streep’s tongue
rolling accent. Kitchen, Suzanne Hamilton and Brandaurer (charming and likeable
as Blixen’s husband, despite playing a complete shit) are good, but nearly
nothing else really works beneath its surface impact. Middle-brow, tasteful and
pointless.
You lost me at "scenary." I appreciate your well thought out review and will have to revisit the film. Memory can be an undependable friend but I recall loving this movie the year it came out. Granted, I was young and less sophisticated so perhaps I will share your view when I revisit it. Regardless of whether I agree, I appreciate you putting your thoughts out there. But perhaps employ a spellcheck before posting next time as spelling errors create an easy avenue for dismissal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment and for reading the review - and for pointing out the error which I have now corrected. Despite checking errors do seem to creep through sometimes! Would be interested to hear what you make of the film when you've had the chance to rewatch it.
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