Out of Africa

 Oscar Winners or hopefuls can be a little pompous. The academy gets a lot of stick and whilst they’ve made some shocking choices, the list of best picture winners generally isn't awful. The 1980s did see quite a few stuffy historical epics take the crown with Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Amadeus, Out of Africa, Platoon, The Last Emperor and Driving Miss Daisy winning best picture (that makes 7 of the 10 winners). Obviously, films in this list are better than others and some are less stuffy than others, but Out of Africa wins the Oscar for being the most stereotypical Oscar winning film.

One’s enjoyment of Out of Africa depends fully on how easily you are able to accept this beautiful and romanticised view of life on the African continent and the continent itself. It’s unsurprising that David Watkin nabbed an Oscar for his cinematography because Africa looks stunning - almost as good as an Attenborough documentary. The roaming wildlife and the incredible landscapes are all photographed immensely and it’s the exactly the type of cinematography that award voters will notice (the type that the Twitter account One Perfect Shot will fawn over).

The cinematography is perfect for the feel of the film which aims to show Africa as this exciting haven for rich, white and privileged Europeans to escape their bustling lives in the smoggy cities of Europe. The film is based on the experiences of Karen Blixen and therefore its likely to be focused on her experiences and her personal memories of Africa, but it doesn’t feel like a truly authentic representation of the continent and its people and its limited to her foreign viewpoint and her personal experiences only.

The film isn’t really concerned about the natives’ side of the relationship with the British colonial empire as they are pushed to the side. Karen does fight to have the natives restored to their lands (which the British refuse) and begins to understand and accept the rights of the natives to their land (for instance, after the dam was breeched repeatedly, Karen let the water flow back into Mombasa - indicating that the land will always return to where and whom it belongs to). The story is undoubtably told from the privileged European side, the African tribes are always subservient and whilst the film does look at Karen’s relationship with the locals, the closest relationships are generally the subservient ones.

As a central couple, Karen and Deyns aren’t exactly fighting against the odds in their love affair in the heart of Africa. Oscar nominated Street is superb whilst Redford (not nominated) is pretty decent as well, but as a central couple their chemistry isn’t the most appealing. There also isn’t any dramatic tension or barriers that would ensure a love against all odds story in a way that makes Romeo and Juliet so powerful (or even films set against an infamous historical backdrop such as The Promise). Any addition to the romantic story would be purely creative licence but it may have added some dramatic tension to Deyns and Karen’s love affair.

However, the film kind of works and I put it down mostly to the cinematography and John Barry’s score which managed to cast a powerful spell on me that I totally brought this romanticised view of Africa. Once the film finished, its issues were laid bare, but whilst watching I was appreciating the film’s elegance and beauty and I found myself caring where it went.