'I had a farm in Africa' - "Out of Africa" (1985)

Here’s the problem with “Out of Africa” in a nutshell. It’s just not inspiring. That’s why it hasn’t scored well and it’s why it’s the last of our movies that I’ve gotten around to reviewing, despite it being watched well over a month ago.

I was utterly disappointed because it had everything, Meryl Strep (and we know how much I love and admire her), Robert Redford (and we know how much my mother-in-law loves and admires him), actually shot in Africa with real lions really menacing Meryl Strep. But even with all of that it’s just really underwhelming.

The photography is impeccable, the scenery and Africa, as a character in the film is beautiful, but you just never feel the chemistry; not between Redford and Streep (except for one brief shining hair-washing moment) and not between Streep and the country her character purportedly loves so much. This means there’s no way you can feel for them once they’re separated which kind of kills the emotional impact of the main plot points.

Given this was up against the stunning movie, “The Colour Purple” we just really can’t figure out why it won. Streep is good as always, her Danish/African accent is flawless (I’m judging that on the basis of knowing a man from that region of Africa and she sounds a lot like his mother!) and there are some wonderfully subtle moments. When she’s told she has contracted syphilis from her philandering husband - her reaction is pricelessly Victorian and painfully understated. Maybe that was the problem – they overdid it on the understatement!

Despite the presence of some redeeming features and interesting behind the scenes tidbits (e.g., Meryl completing an extended take with her normal poise and elegance despite the fact that a large flying insect had made it’s way into her underclothes moments before ‘action’ was called), this didn’t score well with any of us – including our enamoured Lyn or our visiting reviewer, Stella and actually falls to the bottom of the list of Best Pics to date.

Lyn = 58/100
Mat = 60/100
Stella = 61/100
D = 68/100

I still love you Meryl!