Blessed with a gorgeous score and boasting sweeping aerial panoramas of African mountains, plains, waters, and exotic wildlife, Out of Africa (1985, Universal Pictures Limited Production; Universal) surprised no one with its 7 wins out of 11 Academy Award nominations (well, perhaps The Color Purple people were a bit astonished, but that would be due more to their not taking home a single statuette for their 11 nominations, not because of Out of Africa‘s victory). In addition to winning Music (Original Score) and Cinematography, the film also took home Oscars for Art Direction, Sound, Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium), Directing for Sydney Pollack, and Best Picture (it failed to win Film Editing, Costume Design, Actor in a Supporting Role for Klaus Maria Brandauer as Bror, and Actress in a Leading Role for Meryl Streep as Karen).

Because of the timing of its filming and release (1985), Out of Africa really makes some interesting points about culture, colonialism, land, and society that go beyond any intended message of the original 1937 memoir Out of Africa by Karen Blixen (also known by her sometimes-pen name, Isak Dinesen). In 1985, Africa was a continent in chaos and distress. Many of its countries were suffering economically for various reasons, some of which had to do with their ties to the U.S.S.R. (now entering its desperate final years) and, thus, to communism as well, and others of which had to do with the fact that most of the African nations were dealing with the aftermath of being colonial holdings. South Africa was struggling with the ugliness of apartheid and the violence of attempts to dethrone institutionalized racism. Elsewhere, such as in Ethiopia, drought and subsequent poor harvests had given rise to a famine of biblical proportions. In short, African countries were attempting to (re-)create themselves while lacking basic human necessities such as food. And scores of people were dying because of this.

The Western world stood by for a while, not knowing exactly how to help those who needed it most. Ethiopia’s particular situation was both dire and frustratingly political, for its Marxist government had been squandering any aid it received by diverting it to its armed forces in order to cement the military dictatorship of one Mengistu Haile Mariam. It was, ironically, music that softened the West’s resolve to help the estimated eight million people at risk of starvation. In December of 1984, after hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians had already died, a group of British singers that included such notables as Sting, Bono, Boy George, and Phil Collins recorded the now-familiar “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Profits from the song, credited to the group “Band Aid,” raised over $10 million for charity. American musicians joined the cause as well at the beginning of 1985 when a group of artists (including Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder) met after the American Music Awards to record Michael Jackson’s and Lionel Richie’s “We Are the World,” which grossed over $60 million to help Africans in need. That same summer, the Brits and Americans teamed up for Live Aid, a worldwide, 16-hour “superconcert” that featured more than 75 acts performing at either Wembley Stadium in London or in Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium. Broadcast around the world to an audience that numbered over one billion, Live Aid garnered $127 million for famine relief in Africa (and it featured that stellar Queen performance seen in this year’s BP nominee Bohemian Rhapsody).

A few months later on December 10, 1985, Out of Africa premiered in Los Angeles, far from parched and hungry Ethiopia and its southern neighbor Kenya, which serves as the film’s setting. Out of Africa isn’t about drought or famine, but it does tell a tale of survival, of a woman’s hunger for independence, of a strong people in a beautiful land. The film emerges from a year of African desperation and European/American confusion to unite characters from both cultures as they are tied to that continent so much a focus of 1985.

For more thoughts on Out of Africa and its significance, please check out the full post this weekend!