Out of Africa 1985

The Film:

This is one that I've not seen before. Or if I have then I've completely forgotten about it. I'm actually not looking forward to it very much at all - but I'm hoping that my preconceptions will be proved wrong.

The think is, I don't know why I'm not keen, except that all I've seen or heard about the film is lots of moody shots of people on African plains. And Meryl Streep's slightly un-nerving accent.

Firstly, I like both Streep and Redford. If the film is mainly these two, then it can't be that bad. Secondly, I like the director, Sydney Pollack. He did They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Tootsie and the lovely remake of Sabrina. (And he was Will's dad on Will and Grace!).

I also really love Babette's Feast, which was written by Karen Blixen, the character that Streep plays in this. That should be enough to keep me interested and happy. Surely?

The Ceremony:

Exactly fifty-two weeks after the previous awards - March 24th 1986, at the Dorothy Chandler pavilion. This time it was a triple-header of presenters. Jane Fonda, Alan Alda and Robin Williams. It ran only one minute longer than last year, coming in at 3 hours and 11 minutes. There were concerns about falling TV ratings in recent years, so a lot of time and money was thrown at this year's ceremony which included various song and dance numbers - including the one here, which included Howard Keel, Debbie Reynolds, June Allyson, Leslie Caron, Esther Williams, Cyd Charisse etc etc.

Oh, and it wasn't the year that Cher won an Oscar - but it was the year that she wore *that* dress (see below).

Other Notable Winners That Night:

One of these two won an Oscar - the other
one won all the headlines!

First of all, we need to talk about the notable non-winner of the night. The Color Purple had eleven nominations, but didn't win a single Oscar. Some people have put it down to the Spielberg effect (he did crowd-friendly blockbusters, not Oscar films...) and others blame the predominant African-American theme of the film and the predominant Whiteness of the Academy - a criticism that still has some justification today. Maybe it was just bad luck - who knows!

On the plus side for diversity, Best Actor went to William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman - the first time an acting award was given to someone playing an openly LGBT character. Don Ameche was one of the oldest ever winners, taking Supporting Actor aged 77.

However, he wasn't the oldest nominee - John Huston was 79 when he was nominated for directing Prizzi's Honor. His daughter Anjelica won Supporting Actress, becoming the first ever third-generation winner (Grandad Walter won back in 1948, before she was born)

Best Song:

We're still in a golden era of Movie Songs. My choice this year would have been Huey Lewis and the News (but, then, I'm a Back to the Future geek, so it would be!). The Academy went with Lionel Richie for Say You, Say Me from White Nights. But it does mean we get to look at some cross-genre dancing with Hines and Baryshnikov! 

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Poor Celie....

Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Prizzi's Honor and Witness were all nominated. Of those I've only seen Witness - and I really like it. And then we have The Color Purple which would have been my winner. Great film, shockingly overlooked in favour of a bunch of white people in Africa! I think Steven, Whoopi and Oprah have probably just about got over it by now, but it's still not right. (And I shall return to this theme in a few years' time when the best film of the year is almost completely ignored for possibly similar reasons.....)

1.21 gigawatts of awesome!

On a lighter note, this was the year of Back to the Future which is still in my all time Top Ten. Spielberg again (producing this time) and definitely not regarded as Best Picture material (although director Bob Zemeckis went on to direct a winner a few years later). However, it is now regarded as a classic and is still watched and loved by new generations. And it wipes the floor with Meryl and co!


Our Verdict:

Take two bottles into the shower? Nope, just
Robert Redford and a great big jug of water!

Meh. Can I just leave that as my review? Just "Meh"? I'm struggling to say very much more about it. If I had really disliked it (like "Tom Jones", "Gigi" etc) then I'd have plenty to say. If I'd really loved it I could tell you all the reasons why. But there's actually very little wrong with this one. It's just "meh".

I'll try and put it into pros and cons to explain why I pretty much come out entirely neutral about the whole thing.

Pros:
1. The acting and directing is all great. I can't really argue with that. I like Redford, Streep and Pollack - and they all do what they do very well in this film.
2. The landscape is beautiful and it is really well shot. This film is lovely to look at - and that does make a difference. Add in the John Barry score and the overall effect is impressive.

Ok, I admit, the interactions with the tribespeople
are great!

3. It is a film about a strong woman and that character comes across well. (Said woman is also the writer of Babette's Feast, which is a plus for me!). This is shown particularly well when she meets with the local tribes people and Streep just about redeems the film in these scenes. Apart from Aurora and Emma, there haven't been many strong women in our winners since Margo, Eve and co - so this is definitely a plus!
4. There is a fabulous wind-up gramophone that appears in several scenes. It's just that little bit nicer than the one I own, and it perks me up every time I see it.

The star of the film is the one on the left. The far left.
That beautiful gramophone........

Cons:

1. I suppose the fact that my favourite thing about such a lavish big-budget film is a small prop that appears now and then counts as a big mark against it!

2. In the year that The Color Purple went away empty handed, the winner is a film set in Africa that is basically a bunch of rich white people behaving as though they had sole rights to the place and complaining about how hard their lives are because of this. It's not the fault of OOA that it is forever set against TCP in my head (and the heads of many others) - but I came to this film knowing what lost out to it, so it definitely counted as a minus.

A bunch of white people striding around talking

3. Ultimately the men are really boring. Even Redford's character. I couldn't muster up much emotion for him, or for his relationship with Karen (which is meant to be at the heart of the film) - so much so that the poignant ending did very little for me.

4. Linked to that last point - I got bored with the story as well. I need to have some sort of reaction to the characters in a film to be bothered about what happens. And I didn't. So I wasn't.

There - I did have something to say after all. But ultimately, my verdict is: Meh.