Out of Africa is a film directed by the famous American director Sidney Pollack. Adapted from the autobiographical novel of the same name by Danish writer Karen Brixon (pen name Isaac Dynese), the film was named one of the most iconic literary romances of the 1980s and won the 58th Academy Award for Best Picture.
Although many people think that this is a love film, I feel that this is a film that writes the heroine's mental journey. What attracted me to this film was not only the moving romantic story and the fascinating African scenery, but also the epic course of Karen's life and the thoughts and psychological transformations behind it.
Out of Africa poster
"Out of Africa" is mainly about the protagonist Karen, a rich woman from non-high society, who left her homeland of Denmark to marry Kenya in East Africa in order to get the title of a baroness. However, Karen's married life was not satisfactory, and after the marriage broke down, Karen independently took on the task of running the manor.
During this time, Karen gradually formed a deep friendship with the servants on the plantation, and also spent a good time in the African savannah, and Dennis, who had saved herself from the mouth of a lion. However, a fire forced Karen to sell the estate, and dennis was devastated by her accidental death on the plane. Since then, Karen has left Africa for 17 years and has never returned.
The film uses a reverse sequence to look back at the past from the perspective of a protagonist who has gone through vicissitudes. The director almost reduces the rhythm to a normal narrative, telling the sour, sweet, bittersweet and tragic and joyful clutches of the protagonist Karen's life. At the same time, Karen's life path is also her mental journey, and Karen's thoughts and psychology have also changed slightly with her life experience.
The protagonist, Karen
Today's article I will analyze in the future, how the heroine Karen sinks from the title of the beginning to the awakening and finally becomes a strong and independent woman who has tasted all the tastes of life. At the same time, in my opinion, the heroine's tortuous mental journey can be divided into three stages to interpret. In the last part of this article, based on the psychological transformation of the heroine of this film, I will talk about some realistic thoughts brought to me by this film.
The story begins in Denmark. Although Karen was a rich woman, the feudal nobles at that time looked down on her as a "local tycoon" without a title. In order to join the upper class, Karen did not hesitate to sell her flesh, but the other party did not intend to marry her.
Knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, I prefer to go to the tiger mountains. After being deceived, Karen did not look back, but instead stimulated her desire to join the upper class, thus plunging herself into a larger whirlpool.
In desperation, Karen bought a marriage and a farm in Kenya with money, and traveled to Africa alone with great anticipation, wanting to run her marriage and farm well. As a result, not only did she not run a good marriage, but even the farm she bought could not decide how to run it.
A marriage premised on transactions, rather than on feelings, is determined from the outset to fail. From the second day of the new marriage, her husband left home for a long time, until she was finally infected with syphilis by her husband, and Karen realized that the marriage contract bought with money had no temperature.
And even if she had been given the title of Baroness as she wished, Karen did not gain the respect of the nobles with hereditary titles.
Karen thinks that money can buy marriage contracts and titles, but this is actually a self-indulgent but self-deception. The knighthood brings only a change in the name, and the loss is the self.
Karen's husband, Baron Beth, was naturally debauched, and he passed syphilis to Karen, which led to Karen's lifelong infertility, heralding the eventual rupture of the marriage contract.
In this failed marriage, Karen suddenly realized that the title of baroness had no real effect, and that she could only live on her own.
As a result, Karen gradually integrated herself into the local life and work in Africa, and she instructed the local Jikuyu people to see a doctor and help the local children to receive education.
In the process, Karen's hard work on the farm was seen by the local people, and gradually accepted her as an outsider from the bottom of her heart, and she also developed a deep friendship with the servants of the plantation.
After experiencing the breakdown of the marriage contract, Karen has become stronger and more independent from the initial love of vanity and the pursuit of knighthood. Beautiful and intelligent, industrious and kind, and calm temperament, these advantages of Karen gradually attracted Dennis, and the failed marriage did not prevent Karen from developing new emotional relationships.
Karen and Dennis had a wonderful time on the African savannah, hunting together, listening to Mozart's music, flying a plane overlooking the magnificent African savannah... It also became the happiest memory of Karen's 17 years of living in Africa.
Romantic love is not bought by money, and the respect and love of the local indigenous people in Africa is not brought by the title of baroness, these are the embodiment of Karen's personal charm, which Karen did not deliberately pursue.
Karen is independent and strong, but she is a self-exiled woman who pursues belonging. She longs for "possession and control", to possess land that does not belong to her, to control the direction of the flow of water and the Dennis she loves.
Karen and Dennis's relationship, though romantic, is unproven. Karen is obsessed with ensuring that she can "bind" Dennis through marriage, while Dennis, who is free by nature, insists that "I will not be close to or love you because of a piece of paper." ”
When an unexpected fire burned all the harvest, Karen had to sell the farm to make up for the financial strain. Karen began to understand Dennis and said to him, "You know what? Maybe you're right, the farm never belonged to me. ”
The outside world didn't belong to her, and Dennis didn't belong to her.
Before leaving Africa, Dennis died unexpectedly, and Karen finally saw through the nature of loneliness, as she said as she watched Dennis be buried, "He doesn't belong to us, and he doesn't belong to me." ”
Between man and man, between man and the outside of the world, are two parts that are independent of each other. No one belongs to anyone, and no one can control anyone. Life eventually ends in loneliness, and the essence of life is also loneliness.
Leaving Africa after 17 years of living, Karen went from initially admiring vanity to being strong and independent, and finally seeing through the nature of loneliness in the loss and recovery, gain and loss. The mental journey was accompanied by changes in thought and psychology, and Karen tasted the bittersweet and bittersweet of life and left the land with these memories.
(1) Women are respected not by being dependent on men but by relying on their own strength and independence.
Women's independence is an eternal topic, and this film is also reflected in the way Karen acquires respect and self-awareness.
In the first half of the film, Karen is not respected, especially the nobles with hereditary titles. At the same time, although Karen stepped into the emerging bourgeoisie, she did not get rid of the shackles of feudal thought. For example, if she wants to join the upper class, she adopts the method of obtaining knighthood by marrying her husband, which is reflected in this point.
Karen repeatedly emphasizes that she is a baroness, but is thrown out of the door by a white aristocratic man, and even the emcee who presides over her marriage contract does not know her name. Relying on men and knighthood to gain the respect of others is a no-go path.
And the only way that can work is self-strength and independence.
During World War I, most white women hid in concentration camps. Karen, on the other hand, led the team herself through dangerous areas and sent four carriages to the front. From the look in the eyes of those fighting on the front line, we could see the incredible arrival of Karen on the front line and the change in their perceptions of Karen.
It was not until finally when Karen left Africa that she was asked to resign by the daytime aristocratic man, and she eventually relied on her personal charm to gain the respect of the nobles who had despised her. At the same time, Karen's sense of self is also awakening, and before embarking on her return journey, she asks the housekeeper to call her name instead of the Baroness.
A woman bound by feudal ideas gradually realizes that the way to gain respect is not the name or the man to whom she depends, but the value of intelligence, ability, behavior, and independence.
(2) Nothing belongs to oneself, and the essence of life lies in loneliness.
At the beginning of the film, from the twilight of Karen's mouth, a sentence is read: "I have a farm in Africa, at the foot of Mount Nigan..." This is also a classic quote that is repeatedly emphasized in this film. But after watching the film, we realize that Karen didn't take anything from Africa except her memories, and that the farm didn't belong to Karen.
From another point of view, the African region was a colony occupied by Europeans, and Karen approached Africa as a colonizer. Until the end of the film, Karen left Africa and never returned after both financial and emotional defeat, which also implies that colonialism has finally failed.
In her twilight years, Karen experienced the ups and downs of life and finally saw through the nature of loneliness. In her poem, she writes: Wise you depart early, for glory cannot stay for anyone.
Although she saw through the essence of loneliness, Karen did not succumb to loneliness, but gained detachment from it, and approached life and suffering with peace of mind.
In reality, many people are busy chasing fame and fortune or other external things, not knowing that nothing belongs to an individual, and the person who occupies it will eventually return it.
(3) There is no such thing as three, six, nine, etc. in life, and everyone's feelings are figured out.
Gaining a deep friendship across races is also a wealth that Karen has gained in Africa. From the film, we can see the love of the servants of the plantation for Karen, and the reason is not the identity of Karen's baroness, but the emotional imagination.
We can see in some details the change in Karen's attitude towards native Africans. For example, when she first entered Africa, Karen asked her servants to wear white gloves, but at the end of the film, Karen said that it was not a good idea.
After Karen went bankrupt, in order to defend the homeland of the Jiku Judah, Karen knelt down to the white governor in full view of everyone and forced the governor to promise to leave a piece of land for the natives to live.
Karen's love, sympathy and attachment to the African people and the respect and affection of the Indigenous people of Africa for Karen are just like expecting to be respected by others, and first learn to respect others.
epilogue:
After watching "Out of Africa", it is like walking through the 17 years of Karen's life in Africa. From the film, I saw an independent woman who had sunk for the title of a marquise, but gradually grew up under the trickery of fate.
In real life, we will inevitably lose ourselves, and what we have to do at this time is not to rely on others and grow independently. I think this may be the practical significance that this film brings to us.