Out of Africa - PG
Common Sense Note
Parents should know that mature themes and the film's slow pace make it unsuitable for younger kids. It features a torrid love affair (though not much is shown), the hunting and killing of animals, and white landowners using native black people as laborers and house servants. One of the main characters contracts a sexually transmitted disease, and another dies in a plane crash.
Families who see this film might discuss why older male leads are almost always paired in romantic films with much younger female leads. Does that impact what kinds of stories get told on film? Does the practice affect or reflect societal expectations of men and women?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Randy White
Meryl Streep shines in this epic love story of two strong-minded and independent adventurers. The real star here, though, is Africa. The splendid scenery, music, and presence of Robert Redford go a long way to overcome a somewhat lackluster plot. The movie won an Oscar for Best Picture but requires a healthy attention span.
Unable to find a suitable partner, a wealthy Danish woman (Meryl Streep) packs her bags for Africa where she plans to marry her lover's brother, an aristocrat who is desperately in need of money. Scared and lonely in her new land, Karen Blixen discovers deep resources of courage that carry her through numerous perils, including an arduous trek across country and a life-threatening bout of syphilis -- contracted from her mostly absent husband.
Karen also discovers a great love for Africa and for the cool, handsome explorer Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford). The two carry on a torrid love affair while she struggles to hold on single-handedly to her coffee farm. Karen loses the plantation in a fire and is set to leave her beloved Africa forever, when Denys is killed in a plane crash.
Absolutely stunning is the best way to describe the look of this nearly three-hour movie, winner of an Academy Award for Best Picture. The continent of Africa takes center stage as director Sydney Pollack (also an Oscar winner) fashions an epic in the melodramatic tradition of David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia).
The movie is based on the autobiographical stories of Dutch writer Isak Denison and Meryl Streep proves again that she is not only the queen of accents, but capable of carrying an expansive story on her shoulders. Her character is a delight, challenging just about every patriarchal notion of what is appropriate behavior for a woman.
Robert Redford is equally impressive as her great-looking, freethinking love interest. The relationship between the two develops slowly and delicately, and Finch Hatton's death is terribly sad and genuinely moving. But the movie is not humorless. Both Streep and Redford prove adept at withering, deadpan delivery.
The movie does sacrifice plot to appearance. The story has few of the thrilling sequences of classic epics. While the slow pace does become fairly hypnotic, kids may not give it the time or the energy it requires. The fast forward button will be tempting to kids throughout many of the drawn-out nature sequences. And the love story, especially in the last half-hour, could have been significantly compressed.
For viewers interested in the period and happy with the relaxed approach to storytelling, check out Chariots of Fire or Lean's A Passage to India.
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Sexual ContentThe central romance is quite physical but little is shown. |
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ViolenceHunting and shooting animals. |
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Social BehaviorThis is Colonial Africa at its height. White landowners exploit the continent for economic advantage, using black people as laborers and house servants. Karen challenges limiting gender stereotypes. |
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