Out of Africa

Out of Africa, motion-picture dramatization of the life of Karen Blixen, who was later known as author Isak Dinesen, based on the books Out of Africa (1937) and other writings by Isak Dinesen; Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller (1982) by Judith Thurman; and Silence Will Speak (1985) by Errol Trzebinski. Released in 1985, this epic film won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Meryl Streep stars as Blixen, a woman who moves to Kenya to write and live as a plantation owner, hoping to escape the rigid European social structures of the time. She meets and falls in love with adventurer Denys Finch Hatton (played by Robert Redford) and has an affair with him in spite of her husband, Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke, whom she married out of convenience. In addition to her romantic intrigues, Blixen also deals with several other dilemmas, including contracting venereal disease from her husband, life in Africa as a European outsider, and war.

Director

• Sydney Pollack

Cast

• Meryl Streep (Karen Blixen-Finecke)
• Robert Redford (Denys Finch Hatton)
• Klaus Maria Brandauer (Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke)
• Michael Kitchen (Berkeley)
• Mallick Bowens (Farah)
• Joseph Thiaka (Kamante)
• Stephen Kinyanjui (Kinanjui)
• Michael Gough (Delamere)
• Suzanna Hamilton (Felicity)
• Rachel Kempson (Lady Belfield)
• Graham Crowden (Lord Belfield)
• Leslie Phillips (Sir Joseph)
• Shane Rimmer (Belknap)
• Mike Bugara (Juma)
• Job Seda (Kanuthia)
• Mohammed Umar (Ismail)
• Donal McCann (Doctor)
• Kenneth Mason (Banker)
• Tristram Jellinek (1st Commissioner)
• Stephen Grimes (2nd Commissioner)
• Annabel Maule (Lady Byrne)
• Benny Young (Minister)
• Sbish Trzebinski (Beefy drunk)
• Allaudin Qureshi (Rajiv)
• Niven Boyd (Young officer)
• Iman (Mariammo)
• Peter Strong (Huge man)
• Abdullah Sunado (Esa)
• Amanda Parkin (Victoria)
• Muriel Gross (Lady Delamere)
• Ann Palmer (Dowager)
• Keith Pearson (Missionary teacher)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Picture (1985): Sydney Pollack—Producer
• Academy Award for Best Director (1985): Sydney Pollack
• Academy Award for Best Writing—Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (1985): Kurt Luedtke
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction (1985): Stephen Grimes—Art Direction, Josie MacAvin—Set Decoration
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography (1985): David Watkin
• Academy Award for Best Music—Original Score (1985): John Barry
• Academy Award for Best Sound (1985): Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander, Larry Stensvold, Peter Handford
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Drama (1985)
• Golden Globe Award for Original Score—Motion Picture (1985): John Barry
• Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (1985): Klaus Maria Brandauer