I Dreamed of Africa

I rented this film a while ago on video and thought it was a definite 8/10.

I have since bought it on DVD and decided to watch it again a few days ago. Although not having the same impact as my first viewing, here was my opinion.

I saw this film as a wonderfully photographed movie (based on a True Story) about a very strong willed woman "Kuki Gallman".

In the beginning we see her survive a horrific car crash and raising a family by herself. She decides to marry a man called Paolo (Vincent Perez) whom she has known only a short time. She likes Paolo a lot and sees that he is great with her Son Emmanuel, she makes a very difficult decision against the wishes of her Mother (Eva Marie Saint) to move to Africa to live with him.

Their initially idyllic life is shattered by confrontations with Poachers, Loneliness on her part (as her Husband likes danger and is often away on hunting Trips) and culminates with immense personal tragedy.

The performances were very good in this Movie (including a pre-bond outing for Daniel Craig with an excellent South African accent) Vincent Perez was excellent as Kuki Gallman's Husband Paolo. Overall Kim Basinger was admittedly not up to the Oscar Winning Level of LA Confidential and did have a couple of poorly acted scenes, but also showed flashes of dramatic excellence and touches the viewer in some of the more emotional scenes, So overall her performance was quite good. Eva Marie Saint offered a solid supporting performance as Basinger's Mother.

I have to say that it is obvious to me , film critics and a lot of others did not really give this film a chance and possibly compared it to Out of Africa. This is unfair as the film is set in different time and about different individuals. I personally found this film much more watchable than the aforementioned film but probably not as well acted.

Hugh Hudson has directed a great looking film, but the script needed additional work, which would have improved the impact of some scenes.

All in all though this film is well worth your time, do watch it and form your own opinions. 7/10

This film was a fluff piece that succeeded better as a showcase for Kim Bassinger and Africa's natural beauty than it did at telling this true story. The first hour of the film was a succession of Kodak moments depicting the romantic splendor of Africa and how idyllic it would be to live there. Although they showed the occasional storm and threatening wild animal, every effort was made to emphasize the positives. They glossed over little things like the oppressive heat (Kenya straddles the equator but no one in the film ever broke a sweat), insects (not a mosquito in sight), and the fact that the rainy season is three months long and it often rains nonstop for weeks. The first hour seemed more like an advertisement by the Kenyan ministry of tourism than a feature film. It wasn't until the second hour that the story really centered on the characters.

Filming Africa is a cinematographer's dream. Unfortunately, Director Hugh Hudson seems to have been so enamored with creating beautiful photography (and it was truly magnificent) that he rushed through the dramatic elements to get to the next helicopter shot of wild animals loping across the plains. Many of the important dramatic scenes were not allowed to fully develop, giving a snippet and then cutting away to a completely unrelated scene. This took much of the impact out of the film. One example is the egg hanging over the bed. A big point was made over the fact that Paolo had put something in the egg. Yet, we never learn what it is. Why tease us with this tidbit if he is not going to follow through?

The film had strong conservationist undertones, but they were tastefully done and not overly preachy. The point was made that poaching to hunt elephants for ivory is illegal and unconscionable, but it was presented in a way that wasn't strident and smug. The scenes of dead elephants made the statement in a poignant way, much better than any dialogue could have.

Kim Basinger was excellent as Kuki. She went with a more natural look which was very flattering. The understated makeup used in the film revealed that even at 47, she is still one of the most beautiful women on the planet. However, after a three-year hiatus since L.A. Confidential, she delivered her second consecutive acting triumph, proving that she is more than just a pretty face. Her acting was far more genuine and mature than any role I had seen her play before. After having read an interview she gave about the film, it is clear that Basinger is a strong conservationist and naturalist and she identified strongly with her role, which imbued her performance with great conviction and believability.

This film was good, but it could have been much better. I rated it a 7/10. The locations and photography were marvelous, but the story's power was frayed by inattention to basic filmmaking tenets. If Hudson had spent more time developing the characters and creating continuity for the story, it would have been an exceptional film.

I Dreamed of Africa is a movie based on a true story about a woman who changes her and her son`s life when she goes to live to a ranch in Kenya with her second husband. Some parts of the movie do not make any sense, or they look incomplete. That is because they show how hard living in Kenya is; but they aren`t an important part of the story. Another bad thing about it is that it`s way to predicable: you know that something will happen to Paolo (Kuki`s husband) since the first time he goes away hunting; and every time Ema (short for Emanuel, her son) grabs a snake you prepare yourself for a funeral. It is a shocking movie and you may go out of the movie theater hating Africa; but it shows some important parts of the living difficulties in places like Kenya. Altogether I think that it was a worthwhile movie, specially for us Kenya lovers, and you can get to know amazing parts of African savannahs.

Great movie about a real life of Kuki Gallman who decided to live in Kenya near of Rift's valley, the story is common like anybody else, the couple is trying to living in a hard place and taking the life more easy, more slowly, however the all kind of problems that allowed is such place is hard to overcome, but the beautiful African landscape gives an expressive fingerprints to the movie!!! Another highlights of the movie is the Eve Marie Saint who even through the years still beauty and fine actress!!

What's up with all these negative comments? Out of all the comments I read on this site, less than one fifth of them are positive. I may not be old enough to have seen a huge amount of movies, but I must say that as a 16 year old, I truly enjoyed this movie. Of course, certain moments were meaningless, some parts were a tiny weeny bit confusing, but you caught up with the story within the next two seconds. The acting by the whole cast was amazing, the scenery was gorgeous, hehe and so was Vincent Perez! The music was...um...well displaced at certain times, but overall the movie made me cry twice ( well many things make me cry so you might not want to take that into consideration ) the story was quite well constructed, the actors did a great job. (I have an enormous amount of respect for actors as I want to be one someday, so I do not believe that any performance can be bad, some can be improved in certain ways, but nothing is ever awful and only constructive criticism should be given to actors. As I've always been told: If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. A few of the people who commented on the performances should have been taught that.) I have given this movie a 9 out of 10. It may not be one of the best movies ever made, but not one movie has ever been absolutely perfect, and I truly think this one deserves much better reviews that it has gotten, although that is JMHO and everyone has their own, so I'm not dissing anyone's POV. Well that's all of my rambling for today ;)