Far away from Africa

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Movie
German title Far away from Africa
Original title Out of Africa
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1985
length 160 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Sydney Pollack
script Kurt Luedtke
production Sydney Pollack
music John Barry
camera David Watkin
cut Pembroke J. Herring ,
Sheldon Kahn ,
Fredric Steinkamp ,
William Steinkamp
occupation
synchronization

Out of Africa (Original title: Out of Africa ) is an American film directed by Sydney Pollack in 1985 with Meryl Streep , Robert Redford and Klaus Maria Brandauer in the lead roles. It is based on episodes from the life of the Danish writer Karen Blixen , as described in her autobiographical novel Afrika, dark alluring world (also: Jenseits von Afrika ; original title: Den afrikanske farm ) from 1937, the novella Shadows wandern über Gras (original title: Skygger paa Græsset ) and in their letters from Africa. 1914-1931 (original title: Breve fra Afrika , published 1978). Other sources for the screenplay of Kurt Luedtke were the biographies Tania Blixen. Your life and work (Original title: Isak Dinesen. The Life of a Storyteller ) by Judith Thurman and Silence will speak. A study of the life of Denys Finch Hatton and his relationship with Karen Blixen by Errol Trzebinski.

action

The film Out of Africa tells the strongly autobiographical story of Karen Blixen, who emigrated to Kenya in 1913 because of her marriage to her cousin Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke . Her husband turns out to be inefficient and unfaithful. Karen is forced to manage the coffee plantation independently and finds the love of her life in the big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton .

The film begins in Denmark when the older Karen Blixen recalls hunting in Denmark and then the years she spent in Africa (1914–1931). Denys Finch Hatton, the big game hunter she meets on her arrival in Africa, has an important place in her memories.

Karen Blixen travels to Africa with the intention of starting a dairy with her husband, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke. But it turns out differently: The blue-blooded but poor baron has used up their funds to buy a coffee plantation instead of the dairy. In addition, he shows little inclination to work in this plantation , but prefers to hunt. Although the marriage was arranged amicably as a marriage of convenience (Karen's family is wealthy, while the baron brings in a title of nobility), Karen begins to develop a certain affection for her husband and is saddened when she learns of his infidelities.

Eventually, Karen contracted syphilis . The disease, which was very dangerous at the time, forced Karen to return to Denmark to take a cure with arsphenamine since there was no penicillin yet . The film suggests that Karen was infected by her husband.

After her recovery and return to Africa, she separates from her husband and begins a relationship with Denys. But after many unsuccessful attempts to turn their affair into a lasting relationship, possibly even a marriage, Karen realizes that Denys can no more be tamed than the African wild animals. When Karen tries to throw a handful of earth into the grave at the funeral after his plane crash in the Ngong Mountains , she hesitates, then turns away from the other Europeans by running a hand through her hair, according to the custom of the natives.

In the film, after a catastrophic fire destroyed the entire coffee harvest, Karen is forced to return to Denmark, where she becomes a writer and writes about her experiences in Africa.

The film describes the story in six loosely connected episodes, interrupted by Blixen's narrative. The final episode - about Denys' funeral - is from her book Out of Africa , while the others, imitating her very lyrical writing style, were written specifically for the film. The often slow progression of the film is based on the book, "The natives don't like the speed just as we don't like the noise ..." (quoted from: Out of Africa , p. 252).

History of origin

The film tells about the life of the Danish author Karen Blixen, who escaped from the confines of her family as a young woman and tried to build an independent existence in Africa. However, the film is less based on the novel Afrika, dark alluring world , but more on the biography Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller and Blixen's story Shadows wandern über Gras , presented by Judith Thurman , co-writer of the screenplay . As a result, the love affair between Karen Blixen and the English nobleman Denys Finch Hatton, which is not addressed in the novel, comes to the fore.

Her husband Bror von Blixen-Finecke is also depicted in a manner that does not always correspond to the actual events.

The well-known Kenyan writer Meja Mwangi took part in the shooting as assistant director .

synchronization

role actor Voice actor
Karen Blixen Meryl Streep Hallgard Bruckhaus
Denys Finch Hatton Robert Redford Rolf Schult
Bror Blixen Klaus Maria Brandauer Klaus Maria Brandauer
Belknap Shane Rimmer Peter Kuiper
Berkeley Cole Michael Kitchen Norbert Gescher
Farah Aden Malick Bowens Josieah Magatti
Felicity Suzanna Hamilton Regina Lemnitz
Juma Mike Bugara Constantin Lyankamwa
Kamante Joseph Thiaka Newton Temu
Lord Delamere Michael Gough Friedrich W. Building School
Sir Henry Belfield Graham Crowden Klaus Miedel

Reviews

“The film, sensitively directed by Sydney Pollack, impressively describes the romantic idealism of a headstrong woman at the end of the colonial era - and occasionally sinks into sentimental melancholy. A nice, but ultimately non-binding cinematic melodrama. "

- Lexicon of International Films

“[...] melancholy revamped literary film adaptation from the exotic glossy world of a distant colonial Africa, in which the whites were the masters. (Rating: very good) "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz

Inaccuracies in the film

Many passages of the film do not correspond to reality:

  • Karen did not get to know Denys on the train ride from Mombasa to Nairobi (1914), but only in 1918 at the "Muthaiga Club" in Nairobi.
  • The wedding between Bror and Karen did not take place in the “Muthaiga Club”, but directly after landing in Mombasa.
  • Karen was not encouraged to tell or write by Denys; she had long since published her first short stories in Denmark.
  • Karen often had visits from her mother and brother, who also often helped her on the farm.
  • Karen has been to Denmark twice (not just once) for syphilis therapy and has been home several times and for longer.
  • Karen had never been interned . They also undertook not just one supply trip to the soldiers on the border, but several.
  • The major fire took place in 1923, so it couldn't be the end of the farm in 1931. The reason for this was longstanding mismanagement.
  • Denys has in no way spoken out in public with the governor or his wife on behalf of Karen.
  • Karen and Denys 'relationship ended long before Denys' death. The couple had drifted apart.

Trivia

  • The steam locomotive that was used for filming at the time is now in the Nairobi Railway Museum. However, the locomotive was no longer operational at the time. A fire had been made under the old kettle to make the chimney smoke, but the train was being pushed by a diesel locomotive .
  • The lions in the film do not come - as one might assume - from one of Kenya's wildlife parks. Tamed animals were flown in from a California animal park for the shooting .
  • When comparing the Blixen House in the film with the actual Karen Blixen Museum in Nairobi, it is surprising that the staircase that is noticeable in the film is missing. The film recordings were not shot in today's museum - in “Mbogani” - but in the first house of the Blixens, which was called “Mbagathi” and was inhabited by them from 1913/1914 to 1917 - and this is where the stairs are. Today a dairy farm belonging to Ngina Kenyatta is located in “Mbagathi” . The house is privately owned and cannot be viewed publicly.
  • In the Federal Republic of Germany, Jenseits von Afrika was released on March 13, 1986, in the GDR in 1987. The film was first shown on German television on January 1, 1989 at 8:15 pm on ARD .
  • According to bonus material on the DVD, Karen's illness was “genetic” and “inherited” from her father, who suffered from syphilis and took his own life when Karen was only ten years old.

Awards

Beyond Africa received a variety of awards, such as the Oscar and the Golden Globe for best film of the year. Sydney Pollack also received an award for directing and John Barry for his music. Out of Africa was a total of 11 Oscars nominations (won 7) as well as for six Golden Globes (won 3) and 7 BAFTA Awards (won 3) .

Academy Awards 1986

and nominated for:

Golden Globes 1986

and nominated for:

BAFTA Awards 1987

and nominated for:

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

Blu-ray release

  • Universal Pictures Germany (Ed.): Out of Africa. Hamburg 2013. (Bonus material with a film commentary by director Sydney Pollack)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ To explain: in Germany Karen Blixen published her works mostly under the pseudonym Tania Blixen , in English-speaking countries under Isak Dinesen .
  2. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition), Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 418.

Web links