The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 53

'Out of Africa' succeeds in preserving Dinesen's voice 1ft 3 IV AT .1 7 rr: 1 help him. But Streep, holding the screen with grand-V authority, is almost as scenic. She wears an even greater assortment of striking hats than Diane Kea- ton wore in "Reds," and there is no end of shirtwaists and elegant tailored suits We're- hot at all amazed to see a borzoi materialize; in this kind of 1 film, we'd be disappointed if it didn't. There's seldom much of the worldly irony of Dinesen's stories, al-f-though at one point we smile to hear Streep say, in the wake of a ruinous fire, "God gave me my best 1-crop ever. Then he remembered." l' I The point is that she's no picnic, either.

She lsv possessive, and she's cruel to her dissipating aristo- cratic husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer). reminding him just before their marriage of convenience that 1 1 she loved his brother more and enjoyed his company in Denmark before coming to Africa to marry Bran-dauer. We don't feel that heady abandon led her from Denmark to such a quixotic gesture. She makes us feel it was cold will, In fact, she seems the screen's first Nietzschean heroine. It's Brandauer's Blixen with his gray eyes dancing above his apple cheeks, who emerges as an improbable charmer because he seems many-faceted, capable of civilized and not un-2 kind behavior even though he drifts off and leaves his wife to worry about the farm while he hunts and -carelessly gives her syphillis.

Brandauer seems a shoo-in for the best supporting Oscar. Streep clearly has another Oscar in her sights, too, on the strength of her character's unbendable spine. We don't always believe in the passion be- tween her and her winged lover, but we're affected by the way her voice ages on the voiceover, and we al- J. ways believe that her character has won the respect of all the locals, from Michael Gough's ranking Brit to Malick Bowens' Somali majordomo, who subtly ar- rives at a sort of unspoken complicity with his mis- tress. The thing that marks Streep as a grand ro- mantle is the gesture of swooping from Denmark to Africa on a self-dare.

The scale of its protagonist's obsessiveness is what gives "Out of Africa" its splen- dor. It's the kind a director of a $30 million film can J. identify with, and Pollack does. He uses Dinesen's own memoir-opening words on a voiceover, "I had a farm in Africa," as an incantation, opening a door to 71 romanticism as an endangered species. OUT OF AFRICA Directed by Sydney Pollack.

Screenplay by Kurt Luedtke, based on writings of Isak Dlnesen and biographies by Judith Thurman and Errol Trzebinskl. Starring Meryl Streep, Rob-2 ert Redjord, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael 2 Kitchen. Malick Bowens, Joseph Thlaka, Michael Gough. At the Cheri and suburbs. Rated PG (adul- tery, explicit language).

By Jay Carr Globe Staff As a vintage biplane floats over a green African plain, Meryl Steep speaks in a voiceover of glimpsing the world through God's eye. Actu- MOVIE ally, it's Isak Dinesen's eye that's REVIEW doing the glimpsing in "Out of Af- rica," based largely on her memoir of the years she spent cultivating coffee and love in Kenya, far from her native Denmark, from 1914 to 1931. The problem facing director Sydney Pollack was how to preserve Dinesen's literary voice its serenity, its detachment, its refinement, its surprise at its own passion. What Pollack does is hand the burden of embodiment over to his stars Streep and Robert Redford on a big, gorgeous, go-for-broke romantic canvas. "Out of Africa" is long and languid, and Redford often seems part of the scenery, but it gives Streep her best role since "Silkwood," and she fills the screen with Dinesen's strength and eccentricity.

"Out of Africa" is the kind of deep-breathing mov- ie that revels in Juxtaposing shots of Streep tossing feverishly in bed, against Redford standing silhouetted in magnificent isolation on the African plain. As Denys Finch Hatton, the real-life lover of the Baroness Karen Blixen (Dinesen's married name), Redford is elusive. Bathed in golden light, he talks about the futility of wanting to possess people as objects. But he deliberately seems to turn himself into an unattainable object, a pretty icon, doling out just enough affection to sustain the baroness' love for him. Although their story takes place between the world wars, there's a hollow contemporary ring to their quarrels about his unwillingness to commit.

"Out of Africa" goes through the motions of a love story when it isn't taking time out to out-NationaK sV flit utt Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen, better known as writer Isak Denisen, picnics with Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton in Sydney Pollack's "Out of Africa." The love scenes are opulently decorative, with their sunsets and greenery. But there isn't much smolder in them. The real lust is blood lust. Streep never seems so alive as when she's shooting lions or literally cracking the whip. That's when her eyes shine.

When she and Redford are picnicking, we don't get lyricism we get yuppie heaven as our eyes stray to the crystal and Limoges china on the veldt and we wonder what Blixen has in the picnic hamper. It's fun to watch Streep throw herself at the role of this strong, tormented woman, enjoying her aristocratic imperiousness a mode of behavior contemporary actresses generally feel they should be too embarrassed to savor. The camera doesn't often want to leave that fertile terrain, and you can't blame it. Pollock wants Africa to seem an Eden, and Africa is determined to Geographic the National Geographic with its lush scenery. But it's something more complicated than a love story.

It's also a story of civilized characters finding ways to allow their respective selfishnesses to coexist an even more contemporary slant. The kind of romanticism these two embody has to do with gestures. What captures her heart is not his heart, but his way of infusing his great white hunter persona with sensitivity, of taking his gramophone on safari with him. "Three guns and Mozart!" she sighs, proud at her own taste in fixating on such a man. Yet Redford seems to hang around the edges of the story, for all his understated appeal.

Like the character he is playing, he seems reluctant to stride into the center of the film. Given that, it's no wonder Streep revels in Blix-en's powerfulness rather than her open-heartedness. OLIDAY AppMrlng Dc. 20 a 21 AMARCORD Show at 9:00 P.M. Get Tlx sarly lor NPR LIVE NEW YEAR8 GIFT! Today's movie reviews 'A Chorus Page 77.

'The Official Page 56. 'The Color Page 58. 'Enemy Page 60. 'Colonel Page 62. Page 62.

rFRTiTTrATFSH EVE BROADCAST noBton SOUTH IWo IU CIRCITS mi i 1 'OtoSaOteaiixttinQS THE BOSTON BALLET PRESENTS DON'T MISS IT! SEATS STILL AVAILABLE Frt Sat Dec 20 21, 9 11pm; J6.50J3.00 THE CAROL FREDETTE TONIGHT 9 11 P.M. THE STEVE SWEENEY SHOW SAT. 8, 10 11:30 P.M. THE DON GAVIN SHOW TONICHT AT 8 FINAL 3 DAYS! Charge by Phone: 617266-3913 Group Sales: 266-0800 Huntington Theatre Company 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston AL COHIN Be rising Sew York mcalisl in her Boston debut with "BOOK A tenor sax eminence twin w. TABLE)" KMVi ponon VIODV NOW PLAYING 41 (SSL Fri Sat, Dec 27 9 11pm; RUBY BRAFF SCOTT HAMILTON The mellow swingers, with Gray Sargent (g), Marshall Wood'fb) and Chuck Riggs (dm) Through December 29 at the Wang Center AAA' Mnnor, iny concng SPECIAL HOLIDAY PERFS.

mm CALL NOW: CHARGIT 542-3600 or 1-800-223-0120 IN PERSON: Wang Center Box Office 10-6, Sun. sales final HON. DEC. 23 AT 8PM WED. DEC.

2S AT 8PM FRI. DEC. 27 AT 6:30 9:30 PM MON. DEC. 30 AT 8PM NEW YEAR'S EVE AT 6:30 9:30 PM SuEaR MADNESS "Best Comedy of The Year." Boston Globe BOX OFFICE 426-5225 CHARG-TIX 542-851 1 GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE Charles 74 WxrwtonSt Dec 25.

26 at 8 he Return Of nirin i Dec. 27. 28 at 6 9 823 MAIN CAMBRIDGE 497-8200 Tiny Grimes Trio I Dec. 21 Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson Dec. 26-28 SUNNYLAND SLIM MATT "GUITAR" MURPHY Jan.

12 DOC WATSON Jan. 19 ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL LIVE ENTERTAINMENT NIGHTLY Wed. 00 AM Fri Sal. AM Valet Parking Available Tickets avail, at door or maor ticket outlets Visit our dnwmrairs rcitauram ROSF.MARY 97-720 pCAn Dec. 29 at 3 7:30 The Changeling by Thomas Middleton Directed by Robert Brustein Tonight at 8 pm at 2 pm Sunday at 8pm The Juniper Tree World Premiere An opera composed by Philip Glass and Robert Moran Libretto by Arthur Yorinks based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm Saturday at 8 pm Sunday at 2 pm WORLD OF ill A D3 9 New Year's Evening at 7 10 Gala Champagne Party After 10:00 Performance "BULL'S-EYE PERFECT AND VERY, VERY FUNNY!" Kevin Kelly.

Boston Globe CHARGE-TIX: (617) 542-8511 I III! Children's Matinee Added! MusicMaple Hill presents THE CHARLES PUYH0USE.74 Warranton St. December 28 January 5 TOM RUSH Colonial Thealrs Group Sales 426-6444 Box Office 426-6912 TICKETR0N DISCOUNT PARKING 106 Boylslon Street Boston, MA uieno, W. 1221 t-ini 15. 7:30 no onow jbii. MM rrl 1 mrm half nrirjt L.

Ml hiiiiivi: uniiuiwi ic i Tlckett available at box otflce: TIckelron, Teletron. 1-800-233-4050 (In Boston. 367-8520). Group aalesdiscounts 426-6444. Mall ordert accepted.

In OfllM Hnn: 10-6. AFRICAN Dec. 19.20. 21 1 I IAMES WILLIAMS QUARTET AT SYMPHONY HALL set up Pops-style with cabaret table service The Club 47 Continues with spmul guests Bonnie Raitt in a nire acoustic appearance Maria Muldaur Fritz Richmond and The Jug Band Buskin Batteau Bill Morrissey Beverly Rush Christine Lavin FRIDAY THRU SUNDAY DECEMBER 27, 28 29 AT $16.5013.30 ART SALE Kfea. Tarrl Lyn Carrington (drums) with Billy Pierce on tenor sax SPECIAL QUEST DIANNE REEVES Perfect Satire." kellycobe Banchetto Musicale Mwtln Peariman, Music Director Daniel Stepner, Baroque Violin Nancy Armstrong, Soprano Vivaldi The Four Seasons Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.

3 Wedding Cantata BWV 202 AT SANDERS THEATRE Wednesday, January 1 at 3:00 pm $15 Hcttts include champagne reception AT WATER MUSICHARVARD SO; B0STIX PHONE CHARGES AND INFORMATION AT CONCERTIX 876-7777 'This raucous, rollicking revue is a riot! ALAN DAWSON bays Vlbss ANDY McQhs Plays Tsnor Sax Their All Stsr Oulntet Incl: Whit Browne, bass Arvln Scott, drums and LISA KARLINWCVB-TV FRI. DEC. 20 rm SUM. DEC. 22 11 lit i MualrBy plsnlst, Deve Phillips "shows SSmfipn MOTUNI LISTINGS: M7-SOSS Howard Johnson Motel Affordabli Africaa Art S7T A LyrtcaBy GARRY ELIZABETH rm 675 Comm Avf Boston FM Panting I Ceneerukartt: 4S7-111I Call Morris Campbell 491-1000 UMITFn TOUDEAUirrSiTrTr SWADOS -rH cuAnnc i All mator credit card 2s ENGAGEMENT CHARGE YOUR TICKETS NOW TELETHON 720-3434 1(800)382-8080 CROUP RATES AVAI1.AIII.K 426-64-U and Kids 47 MATINEE TO BENEFIT SAVE THE CHILDREN with Tom Rush Bonnie Raitt The Jug Band Livingston Taylor Rosenshontz Beverly Rush and Robert J.

Lurtsema SUNDAY DECEMBER 251 AT DlirrtfdA A Choreograprtrd By BILL CASnTELLLNO SAVE LOTS OF MONEY EVERY WEDNESDAY WITH THE FOOD PAGES OF The Boston Globe For home delivery call 929-2222 or toll free inside Mass. 1-800-532-9524. I am nt ntr.1 1 nn mirtn Miukal DirrrttMi ArrwiennrnU By JUIUI MUMAKU IXVYL3 NEXT MOVE THEATRE 1 Boylston Place tnuX 423-5572 RING IN THE NEW YEAR with "RAP MASTER RONNIE NEW YEARS EVE SPECIAL 10 PM PERF. Available at Water MusicHarvard liostixStrawlxrrics 'Symphony Hull Plume ChunuM and Information at ConcertiA (617)876-7777 $4p per person-includes party following the sfcow..