Review of Out of Africa (1985) by Gavin S — 29 Apr 2014

This is raised to a 4-star movie because of the gorgeous cinematography and score (courtesy of John Barry). As a romance goes, it's fairly modern (for a 30yr old movie) with both leads being equal in importance, and neither one outshining the other. Redford is great here, and Streep is her usual bang on self as well, slowly warming up over the course of the nearly 3 hour run-time. It can seem mildly slow in places, but if you just give it time to unfold it is actually worth the investment. I said to my wife at the end, "Boy now I really feel like going to visit Africa." Sidney Pollack does a great job of weaving together the scenery, the romance, the story, the characters, all into a coherent and enjoyable story that avoids most of the the traps of many romances. This film walked away with 7 Oscars in 1986 (Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Score, Sound, Art-Direction/Set) and I don't feel like it robbed any other more deserving films (major nominees that year included: Color Purple, Witness, Ran (Kurosawa), Prizzi's Honor, Kiss of the Spider Woman). It didn't win acting awards, that's fine, because they were strong performances, but not award calibre.

A very good film, and one of the few epic romances that stands up well 30yrs later.