Chapter thirteen: Out of Africa

In the early nineteen hundreds, a wealthy woman in Denmark, Karen Blixen, is cordial with two men. One is a good friend of hers, while the other is her lover. The two men are brothers. After discovering that her lover has lied to her, their relationship is immediately over, but Karen marries his brother, Bror, out of convenience because he is in need of money, and she is an older woman who has failed to marry which, at that time, was unthinkable. Karen has money, and Bror is good stature for Karen, plus the fact that they are friends influences them into marriage. They travel away from Denmark, to Africa, where they marry and plan to start a dairy farm with Karen's money. Karen is traveling via train to Africa on the day of her wedding when the train stops for a man. That man is Denys Finch Hatton, played by Robert Redford, who quickly plays a vital role in the movie's plot. Let me tell you Robert Redford is, or at least was, HOT. That's with a capital "h," exaggerated "o," and an accented "t."

Karen arrives in Africa where she is greeted by a sort of Swahilian tour guide who unloads her possessions and takes her to a destination where Bror is expected to be. Asking for her husband, Karen stumbles into a bar of all men who tell her "Memsahibs (married upper-class white women) must be here." It doesn't seem like much of an important scene, but it made me rather irate, and a similar scenario will reappear towards the end of the movie. Outside the bar Bror is found and their wedding is celebrated that same day. After the wedding where Karen becomes Baroness Blixen, they are driven up to a house with servants awaiting the couple. That evening at dinner, Bror informs her that they are no longer starting a dairy farm. Instead, they will be starting a coffee plantation. This doesn't go over with Karen well, because it's her money that they were using to start the dairy farm, and now Bror has decided to go and make sudden changes with the money without consulting her first. She says to him,

"Next time you change your mind, you do it with your money."

The next morning, Bror cannot be found. Karen is told by a servant that, "He has gone to hunt," and "he can come before text rain," but "it can be many days before it rains." Realizing that Bror has left without a trace and it's up to her to start their plantation, she saddles up to purchase 500 coffee crops and get familiar with the local Swahilian's and their chief. She works diligently, deliberately, and does not need the company of a man. But she craves it. One afternoon, Karen, who is by now well established, goes hunting and loses her rifle when her horse is startled. She makes face-to-face with a lioness. Denys steps back in the frame to rescue her. Soon, the animal walks away after circling Karen, but Denys did not shoot the animal. When asked why he didn't respond faster, Denys says,

"She wanted to see if you'd run. That's how they decide."

This spontaneous meeting creates a window for Denys to come home with Karen and bring his assistant, Berkeley, with him to stay for dinner. Storytelling is a talent of Karen's, and so during the meal she entertains them with an elaborate, yet fictional story. This night strengthens Karen's and Denys' relationship quite significantly.

Shortly following, Denys saddles back on his horse to continue his journey of mysterious wandering, and he gives Karen a pen so she can write down her stories one day. Bror does come to stay with her, but by no surprise, he has to leave again, which he says to help with the war effort. While gone, the coffee plantation continues to thrive, but Karen is told by a messenger, "They need paraffin and tinned food, enough for 300 men.He wants you to send a white man with the wagon. To this he adds,

"And we're going to have to move you into town. We can't protect you here... With the men gone we are worried about the native element. We have orders: Women and children into town."

Karen replies,

"That is interment, Lieutenant... Is that one category or two?"

He responds,

"You'll want time to gather your things. I'll send an escort here for you Thursday..."

It could've been a huge hit for her, but she doesn't phase. Instead, packs up her cattle, her Swahilian servants, and bundles of supplies for the men to take to them herself to Lake Natron where they are based. That way, she has robbed the men of the fun of taking her into town. It's at the camp that she finally pulls back the layers regarding Bror's lack of commitment saying,

"You're not going to help at all with the farm are you?"

"No,

he answers.

"I could force you. I could cut you off,"

she threatens.

"I'll just hunt professionally. I might do it anyway,"

he says, bluntly.

"It's not the way we thought it would be, but I like it that you're honest with me."

"I like you too... Very much."

Upon returning to the farm, Karen finds that she has syphilis, which was given to her because Bror has been unfaithful. This puts an even bigger divide in their marriage than what already was. She steps away from the farm for an extended period back to her childhood home in Denmark while the medications take effect. She can no longer have children, which gnaws at her later on when she confides in Denys that her only purpose in life is to tend to the farm. Denys disagrees.

By now, it's New Year's 1919. At a party, Karen catches sight of Bror leaving with another woman, which gives her the opportunity to dance with Denys. During the car ride home she says to Bror, with great modesty and control, unlike what I would have been able to do in such a circumstance,

"I want you to take a place in town."

Now, with him completely out of the picture, Denys' and Karen's flirtatious friendship blossoms more into a significant romance enveloped in Mozart music and explorations. Karen has also had much success with her farm, and is friendly to the Swahilian people. She even decides to open up a school for children living on the land. In all of this however, she has yet to get Denys to commit to marriage. (Bror has asked for a divorce.) Denys enjoys his time alone, free on the frontier hunting, journaling, and flying, which becomes quite a hot button issue for Karen who wants him to marry her and be able to show his love for her with official documentation. Denys denies such a thing because,

"I won't love you more because of a piece of paper."

She asks him, irately,

"Why is your freedom more important than mine?... I'm not allowed to need you. Or rely on you, or expect anything from you. I'm free to leave. But I do need you. "

To this he responds,

"You don't need me. If I die, will you die? You don't need me. You're confused. You mix up need with want. You always have."

This spat causes the two to spend some time apart while Denys is away for the weekend against Karen's wishes. While he is gone, the farm burns down. Unable to start it back up because her finances have become poor combined with her optimistic philosophy that "insurance is for pessimists", her last order of business before she leaves Africa is to make sure the Swahilian people have a secure piece of land to stay on before she leaves. Karen asks the new governor for assistance to ensure their safety. She kneels before him saying,

" Will you help me?...You mustn't be embarrassed. I've lost everything. It costs me very little to beg you.

As men rush to pick her up, Denys sweeps back in to vouch for her, so that Karen is able to finish her speech. She isn't able to get the word of the governor, but his wife promises to keep the Swahilians safe. Karen says,

"Thank you. I hope you'll be happy here. I was."

Denys wants to help Karen, but she says,

"No. I want to be worth something now."

After her rummage sale, Denys comes to visit her at the house. He says,

"You've ruined it for me you know?... Being alone. I'd like to come with you to Mombasa."

They dance together in that lovely, empty apartment onto the nighttime sidewalk. Denys says he will be back for her on Friday, but he doesn't come back. His plane has crashed and he has perished. (This was the part where I almost turned the movie off.)

Instead of ending with a wedding, there is a funeral at the end of the movie. Denys' funeral. On her last day in Africa, Karen is welcomed to have a drink at the bar she was once denied entry at. After Karen left, the soil around Denys' grave was leveled out with time. It has made a nice platform for lions and lionesses to stalk their prey.

To end, I just want to take a moment to say that this movie is masterful. The plot is complex, for me at least, but it has so much depth and heart enveloped in it. I had to watch it a few times over to understand it at an adequate level, but what I gather from it is that it's a beautiful movie. Meryl's character, Karen, specifically is a character who infactuates me because she was a woman who wanted to be loved and cherished as someone's significant other, but she also could do the work and maintenance for the farm alone and not be bogged down by it. She knew what had to be done ahead of her personal affairs, but she was careful not to forget about her own wants and desires along the way, because her morals for a happy, fulfilled life, and those still remained with her.

It is also a true story based on the book with the same title as the film that was written by Karen Blixen herself in 1934, whose pen name was Isak Dinesen. She never went back to Africa, and she never remarried after her divorce from Bror. It's bittersweet. If you have the time, I would highly recommend it for a watch one night.

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.