BEFORE: Big film #900, my last milestone before...well, my next milestone. So the choice is one of those "relevant" costumed period pieces and a Best Picture winner - always good to cross one of those off the list (I've now seen 48 of the 83 winners).
THE PLOT: In 20th century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate but ultimately doomed love affair with a free-sprited big-game hunter.
AFTER: Earlier tonight, I watched an episode of "Dirty Jobs" that aired in February (yes, I'm 4 months behind on some shows) - and I hate to say it, but I think the show has run its course. After picking up garbage and unclogging septic tanks and cleaning up almost every species of poop, the show devoted 20 minutes to the host trying to pull a fencepost out of the ground. Not exactly destination TV.
A visit to a coffee plantation (which I'm sure the show has covered) would be much more interesting - and I wish that this film had focused more on the inner workings of the farm/plantation and less on the stormy relationships of its self-obsessed owner. Or even more details about the safari/tourism business, that seemed sort of interesting too.
Instead, I'm left with just the relationships of Karen von Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen) and honestly, I didn't find them as interesting. I counted four failed relationships during the course of the film (hmm...what's the common factor here - it's gotta be her, right?).
Yeah, there are some issues raised about colonialism/imperialism, the industrialization of Kenya and the education of its people, but mostly the focus seems to be on Blixen and how she can't hold on to a man. So then we have the relationship issues - stuff about personal space, unobtainable/unaccessable personality types, faithfulness and betrayal, and how self-absorbed some people tend to be. As evidence of my theory that Blixen was a royal pain in the neck, her husband and then her boyfriend all would rather be on long safaris than spend any time with her. (Best punchline ever: "You don't come here to hunt, do you?")
So, ho hum - I'll probably get some flak for rating an Oscar-winner so low, but I just didn't care about Blixen, her lame poetry, and all her navel-gazing. When the caravan was attacked, I was rooting for the lion... Please remember that my rating does not reflect how relevant or important a movie might be to society as a whole, it's intended as a snapshot of my own personal enjoyment, on this particular viewing - your mileage may vary.
As with the fencepost on "Dirty Jobs", it wasn't interesting enough subject matter to justify the time devoted to it. (2 hours 40 minutes? Seriously?) Plus I couldn't accept Robert Redford (last seen in "Legal Eagles") as a British ex-pat (did he even TRY to talk with a British accent, come on, Bob, even a little one?).
Was this really the BEST Picture of 1985? What films did this beat to win the Oscar - The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi's Honor and Witness? Seems like it might have been an off-year. I've only seen the last 2 of those 4 though.
Also starring Klaus Maria Brandauer (last seen in "The Russia House"), Michael Gough (last seen in "The Fourth Protocol")
RATING: 3 out of 10 elephant tusks
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