Out of Africa
Director: Sydney Pollack
Year Released: 1985
Rating: 1.0
Offensively dull Hollywood tripe with art film pretentiousness - long, dry shots of nothing, and only bare whispers of plot. Atmosphere is supposed to take precedence over content or character development, although for the later Isak Dinesen (Meryl Streep) merely learns that it's not right to make your African slaves wear white gloves when handling your precious symbolic items (a clock, in this case). Robert Redford is clearly outmatched by the accent-slinging Streep, but his anti-colonialism figure is much more interesting in the long run. There are not one but two deus ex machinas that bring this sludge to an end: the fire to the coffee beans and the plane that crashes in Tsavo, both of which are intended to bring pathos to an emotionally-distanced movie.
