HER STEPS IN AFRICA

STEPS OF KAREN IN AFRICA

Fact Sheet out of Africa by Mohamed Mahfoud

Fact Sheet 

  Out of Africa is an American film based on the autobiographical book with the same title.The book was written by the Danish writer Isak Dinesen who was one of the most famous Danish writers.

The film is A romantic drama film directed by Sydney Pollack in 1985.

Her life was very difficult because she was not supported by her husband who passed all his time working and hunting. Consequently, they were not able to live together. She got married to someone called Denys Hatton who died in an aircraft crash.

The film is about a unique story of a woman who loves Africa and African people. 

Cast:

Robert Redford - Denys Finch Hatton
Meryl Streep - Karen Blixen
Malick Bowens - Farah nd was 
Joseph Thiaka - Kamante

Awards:

The film won seven Academy Awards and was nominated for many prizes in America and the world.

FACT SHEET

SUMMARY

Out of Africa is a movie that’s based on the real life of Karen Blixen, a Danish woman that travels with her husband (a rich friend of her, they decide to marry so that she can become a Baroness) to Africa. She will discover what true love is when she meets Dennys-Finch-Hatton a free man that rejects any ties. This makes it difficult for Karen when she begins to want more things from him and even suggests marriage. In addition to this, Karen’s life is also bound to her 1000 acres farm where she starts a coffee plantation.

WRITER

Baroness Karen Van Blixen was a Danish author that was born on the 17^th April 1885.

AWARDS AND HONORS

The film won seven Oscars and was nominated in a further four categories (Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Director...). It also won three Golden Globes as well as two recognitions by the American Film Institute.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

There were numerous differences between the film amd real life events. For example:

-The film leaves out some local shootings and Karen’s writings about the German army.

-It also ignores that Karen was pregnant at least once with Finch Hatton’s child, but she suffered miscarriages.

- She had two dogs, Dawn and Dusk.

ACTORS

Meryl Streep as Karen

She’s considered by many critics to be the best living actress. Meryl has been nominated for the Oscars 18 times: She was born in New Jersey in 1949.

Robert Rutherford as Dennys

He was born on August 18, 1936, in California but he has English, Irish and Scottish ancestry. He became a grandfather when his father had her first child in 1991. He has 4 children with Lola Van Wagenen.

Klaus Maria Branduer as Bror

Michael Kitchen as Berkley

Malick Bowens as Farah

DIRECTOR

Sydney Pollack was born the 1^st July 1934 in Indiana, USA. He died on the 26^th May 2008 In Los Angeles by stomach cancer. He was an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, writer and public figure, who directed and produced 40 films. His biggest success was‘’ Out of Africa ‘’ in 1985.

BIOGRAPHY

Isak Dinesen, also known as Baroness Karen Blixen-Finecke was a Danish writer that was known for mixing supernatural elements with an aristocratic view of life in her work. She was born into a well-to-do patrician family and she attended the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen, and also studied in England, Switzerland, Italy and France. In 1907 Blixen made her debut as a writer with several short stories. When she got married she went to Kenya where she ran with her husband a coffee plantation. Karen suffered in Africa from syphilis, which she had contacted from her husband. After divorce in 1921 she struggled by herself and she decided to return to Denmark in 1931. Her years in Africa were depicted in Out of Africa her calm and nostalgic autobiography which started with her famous words: “I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills”. Out of Africa was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1985, directed by Sydney Pollack. Blixen’s major work, Seven Gothic Tales, was proclaimed a masterpiece by critics in England and in the U.S. In Denmark the critics were more reserved because her stories were considered too exotic and she was accused of elitism. In the 1950’s Karen’s health was deteriorating and writing became impossible, she decided to become a radio lecturer and made one record. She was nominated six times for the Nobel Prize. Such American writers as Trunnan Capote and Carson McCullers acknowledged their admiration of her work. She died in September 1962 in Rungsted. 

Out of Africa - fact sheet.

 Out of Africa.                                     

Out of Africa is an American romantic drama movie, based on the autobiography book, Out of Africa, written by Isak Dinesen, which was published in 1937.

It was filmed in 1985. it was directed and prodeced by the American film director, Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Klaus Maria Brandauer;  Streep played Karen Blixen; Redford played Denys Finch Hatton; and Klaus Maria Brandauer played Baron Bror Blixen.

       Meryl Streep as Karen.                    Robert Redford as Denys.             Klaus Maria Brandauer as Bror                                                                                                                     Blixen


This film received 28 film awards, including seven Academy Awards.

general plot:

In the early twentieth century, Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) decides to marry her distant cousin Baron Bror Blixen-the Finecke (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and move to Kenya to run a coffee plantation. This marriage of convenience soon falls apart due to her husband's womanizing character. Although she meets a professional hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford), adventurous and liberal. But in the end, he dies in his plane. A fire destroyed the coffee harvest and Karen is ruined, having to return to Europe, and although at that time already separated, Denys offers to help.

Fact Sheet

This romantic and dramatic film is based on Isak Dinesen’s real life. She entered into a marriage of convenience with her friend Baron Bror Blixen. When they moved to British East Africa they got married in a brief ceremony. 

 She also met Denys Finch Hatton, a professional hunter, with who she developed a close friendship. However, the things turn out differently and Karen got syphilis from her husband. When she become separated from her husband after this, she had some problems at the coffee plantation.

 She fell in love with her friend Denys, however Denys had a different lifestyle, he was free and he refused to commit to marriage. The plantation finally worked but a fire broke out and the crops and the factory were all destroyed.

Denys died in an airplane accident and then Karen decided to move back to Denmark, and she started to write there her experiences in Africa, she became a writer.

FUNERAL KAREN

                                                         
                      FUNERAL OF KAREN DINESEN  

by Zineb El Haddad