Stars: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen

Director: Sydney Pollack

Summary: Adapted from Isak Dinesen's novel, OUT OF AFRICA plaintively tells the story of two troubled adults who meet and fall in love in the African wilderness. Karen Blixen-Flecke (Meryl Streep) is a modern woman, caught in the shortcomings of a practical marriage. Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) is a gallant British hunter, lonely, but unable to commit. As they two meet and begin a torrid affair, they set out on an epic adventure in the badlands of Africa--an adventure that real-life Blixen-Flecke would later put to paper under the pen name of Dinesen. Sydney Pollack's opus is a full, visually compelling film. Its storyline evokes a plethora of emotions, ranging from fear and loathing to hope and the elation of love. Redford and Streep are electric as the two damaged infidels in love. A key American film, OUT OF AFRICA is not to be missed.

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Winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Out of Africaseems to have slipped more readily from public memory than other comparably lauded films. Yet Sidney Pollack's panoramic treatment of Karen Blixen's novel has retained its atmosphere and slow-burning emotion, and deserves reassessment. Meryl Streep is in her possibly most involving starring role as Baroness Karen Blixen, Danish free spirit whose ill-fated venture at the beginning of World War One to run a coffee plantation in Kenya is overlaid by her intimate yet distant relationship with adventurer and idealist Denys Finch Hatton, unselfconsciously portrayed by Robert Redford. Klaus Maria Brandauer puts in a rare and convincing English-language appearance as the amoral but charming womaniser Baron Bror Blixen. The film is tellingly held together by Kurt Luedke's finely honed screenplay, and John Barry's sumptuously expressive score.

On the DVD:The anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen format reproduces superbly, as does the 4.1 discrete audio. 18 access points are provided, with printed and aural subtitles in English only. Pollack's feature commentary is amusing enough on a single run-through, but an on-location documentary would have been preferable. Production notes and biographies are very adequate, though the theatrical trailer reproduction is notably inferior. No matter, this is a major film, well worth the transfer to DVD.--Richard Whitehouse

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Feature Commentary With Director Sydney Pollack, Production Notes, Cast And Filmmakers Biographies, Theatrical Trailer, Universal Web Links
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1985
Release Date:	November 1, 2005
Runtime:	154 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	820 470 3
Keywords:	Out, Africa, General, Wide, Screen, Drama
Genre:	Drama