27 de maio de 2008

Out of this world


"I had a farm in Africa..."

This is how my all-time favourite film begins. The calm voice of Meryl Streep and the African landscapes on a bird's eye view produce a sort of spell that leave you suspended from reality and into the past lives of real characters in the endless immensities of Africa.

To my knowledge, this is the only movie that is far better than the book that inspired it. I have the real "Out of Africa" by Karen Blixen but somehow I haven't managed to read it to the end. It has been there on my bedside table for years holding the promise that one day I will eventually finish it. I never do, though. I read the lines and it's always the movie that comes to my mind. I see the picture of the real Blixen and it's always Streep I see pleading for the Kikuyu.

Because of "Out of Africa", I decided I wanted to study imperialism in Africa. Because of a movie I saw for the first time in my childhood years, I decided my life, I did a PhD in my adult years.

This was also the first movie that brought tears to my eyes, mine and Mom's. There we were the two of us in that silent apprehension of the sublime, together in the same enchantment. And because each time I watch "Out of Africa" I remember Mom, and because the tears now are the souvenir of Mom, today I can only remember Sydney Pollack. Thank you!

RIP

7 comentários:

antonio ganhão disse...

RIP

Anónimo disse...

Touching!
And well written.
And said!

Tiago R Cardoso disse...

Gostei, como escrevi noutro lugar, muito bom.

Carol disse...

Parece mal dizer que nunca vi este filme?...................................................................................................

Pronto, não me batas! Logo que possa vou alugar!

António de Almeida disse...

Como escrevi noutro lugar, não é o meu filme preferido, mas é um bom filme, com uma fotografia espantosa.

JOY disse...

Olá Blonde

Excelente filme , com uma fabulosa fotografia .

Fica bem
Joy

Solteiro Do Bomfim disse...

Just like everything else in ours lives, there's always something that we cant accomplish...

Never "saw" the book or even the movie, although, the most interesting part in your text, at least for me, is the part that you can't finish the book because of the movie...

Strings attached apart...

Just like that...just like life.

Finish the book ;)