Out Of Africa

I watched Out of Africa (1985) featuring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. This movie is based on the memoir written by Baroness Karen von Bilxon-Finecke under the pen name Isak Dinesen. It won 7 Oscars for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Music (Original Score), Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Editing. The movie tells the story of Karen Blixon who traveled to Africa in 1913 to run a successful ranch. Many good things happened to her including meeting the love of her life, falling in love with a country on the other side of the world, but there were also bad things such as eventually losing her farm and contracting syphilis. In the end she must move back to Denmark with longing for her lost love and the land she fell in love with.

The element of "World History" touched in this movie was European colonization in Africa. Originally I thought that the Europeans in Africa were awful to Africans and treated them all as slaves. In this movie, however, Karen Blixon does not think that way. She wants to help them as much as she can. She helps them in various ways including pushing one young man to visit the doctor for his horribly infected ankle. Throughout the movie she becomes more acquainted with the culture and people of Africa. Although she is nice to them, there are also the stereotypical white men who think they are above the "savages".

I thought originally that the Europeans were vicious, cruel creatures to the Africans. Not helping them only hurting them, and not caring about what happened to them as long as Europeans got what they wanted. In this film though Karen is nice to the Africans and finds many ways to help them. She even gets a kid to go to the doctor for his infected leg. This movie conveys that not all Europeans were evil to Africans. There are those people who are cruel, but it shows some of the people were nice to the "savages".

I loved this amazingly crafted movie. The romance had to be my favorite part though. Karen was faced with many emotional conflicts. First she makes a deal with a friend to marry a man she was friends with, but didn't love. Since they weren't in love he cheated on her eventually giving her syphilis. When she returns to Africa she falls in love with Denys Finch Hatton. They explore Africa together and she falls in love with the land. Although when they get back he is unable to fill her need for worth because he did not believe in marriage. In the end of the movie you start to assume he is changing his views on long term relationships and could potentially end up marrying Karen. Unfortunately he dies in a plane crash before your assumptions are confirmed.