Out of Africa (PG, 1986)

OUT OF AFRICA is Meryl Streep at her iconic best, armed with a flawless accent and a deep understanding of her character. Her Karen Blixen follows a formidable, and believable, arc, one accompanied by such impressive companions as Redford, so comfortable in his gallant and handsome skin here, and Brandauer. The story is sprawling and compelling and so is Karen's metamorphosis: how she grows as a person; how she can’t make an uninterested husband love her; how she falls for a fiercely independent hunter who appreciates her but doesn’t want to be caged. (There’s one scene where he lovingly washes her hair and quotes poetry -- who can resist?)

John Barry’s compositions for the soundtrack heighten the film’s transporting quality; it places you in an altogether different, and romantic, time and place. Under the gentle hands of director Sydney Pollack, the landscape becomes a character, too. It enthralls the audience, the same way it once enthralled the baroness herself. As does the movie, which reaped handfuls of Academy Awards.