African Trophies

Africa is one of those mysterious, fascinating places I’ve never visited but feel I know-at least a little- thanks to the magical transport of special films set there.

Take for instance “King Solomon’s Mines”, a rugged, suspenseful movie that never betrays its age (56!). When a would-be explorer disappears in uncharted parts while searching for the fabled mines of King Solomon, rugged adventurer Allan Quartermain (Stewart Granger) is hired by the man’s wife, Elizabeth (Deborah Kerr), to lead an expedition to find him. The movie scores purely on a visual level, thanks to spectacular color camerawork by Oscar winner Robert Surtees. Granger and Kerr also generate powerful chemistry, which makes the journey-including snakes, rhinos, lions, and assorted indigenous tribes-all the more exhilarating.

Fred Zinnemann’s just released “The Nun’s Story” (1959), showcasing the luminous Audrey Hepburn in her prime, is a more contemplative affair, following one devout Belgian girl’s transformation into Sister Luke (Hepburn), a nun and skilled nurse who achieves her dream of working in the Belgian Congo. There she meets Dr. Fortunati (Peter Finch), a gifted surgeon who senses Luke’s inner struggle to meet her spiritual commitment. A literate, nuanced drama with size, scope and color, this overdue entry boasts superb location photography and uniformly fine performances, both from the young leads and two English Dames in support: namely, Edith Evans and Peggy Ashcroft, playing senior nuns who guide Luke along her often thorny path.

In Howard Hawks’s burly, light-hearted “Hatari!”(1962), Sean Mercer (John Wayne) heads a group of game-hunters in Africa who capture animals for zoos. Sean’s sense of order is upset when a chic female photographer dubbed Dallas (Elsa Martinelli) arrives to shoot a magazine spread. Will Sean keep Dallas at a safe distance till she can take her pictures and go home? Replete with breathtaking wild animal chases, the movie’s also carried by smooth ensemble playing from veterans Bruce Cabot, Red Buttons, and Hardy Kruger, who comprise Mercer’s core team. And it’s easy to see how Martinelli’s Dallas gets under Sean’s leathery skin. A catchy Henry Mancini score completes this diverting picture, ideal for all ages.

Cy Endfield’s “Zulu” (1964) is a pulse-pounding recreation of a famous battle in 1879 Natal, where four thousand Zulu warriors descended on a small outpost housing just 140 British soldiers. Facing certain slaughter, senior officer Lts. John Chard (Stanley Baker) and Gonville Bomstead (Michael Caine, in his debut) still decide to make a stand. Endfield’s breathless depiction of a rag-tag English force battling an implacable enemy remains one of our very best war films. Star Baker (who co-produced) was never better, and you can almost see the word “star” emblazoned on Caine’s forehead. Jack Hawkins also registers as a fanatical priest in one of his final appearances. Like the heroes it portrays, the stellar “Zulu” richly earns a chestful of medals.

In the scenic, family-friendly “Born Free” (1966), George and Joy Adamson (Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna), British game-keepers in Kenya, impulsively adopt a female lion cub they name Elsa. Though Elsa becomes fully domesticated, once grown she still causes considerable damage. Ultimately the Adamsons, who consider their lioness a surrogate child, must decide whether to send her to a zoo, or train her to adapt to the wild- a daunting challenge. Stunning shots of the Kenyan landscape and its myriad creatures adorn this true story of love and sacrifice. John Barry’s Oscar-winning score only adds to the sweep of this memorable outing.

As to productions originating in Africa, Ousmane Sembene was the first black African director to gain an international audience with his winning fable, “Mandabi” (1968). This leisurely, thought-provoking yarn concerns a Muslim in post-Colonial Senegal who receives a money order from a relative in Paris, but gets hamstrung in cashing it by a mystifying new bureaucracy. In this society poised between its simpler roots and the complexities of the modern age, what should be a blessing becomes a curse, as the poor man actually incurs debt on an asset he can’t touch. Thus “Mandabi” delivers a wise, darkly comic perspective on the impact of “progress” in a developing country.

Fast-forward roughly twenty years to Bob Rafelson’s under-exposed “Mountains Of The Moon” (1990), which recounts the mid-19th-century adventures of explorer Sir Richard Burton (Patrick Bergin). Accompanied by Lieutenant John Speke (Iain Glen) Burton dares to penetrate the heart of Africa to discover the source of the Nile. The realization of a long-held dream for Rafelson (“Five Easy Pieces”), the majestic “Mountains” tracks Burton and Speke’s evolving relationship through their perilous journey and its complex aftermath. Bergin is perfectly cast as the rough-hewn Burton, an outspoken modern clearly out of place in Victorian England, while Glen personifies Old English values as the upper-crust Speke. “Mountains” is a must for modern-day explorers at heart.

On the documentary front, “Mandela: Son Of Africa, Father Of A Nation” (1996) bears testament to an outsize life with insight, balance and restraint. We first learn Nelson Mandela was marked for great things early on: even as a child, he commanded respect, even veneration. The film then takes us on a remarkable journey, as the calm, disciplined boy is earmarked for higher education, becomes a lawyer, political activist, jailed martyr for the cause of majority rule, and finally, the nation’s first black president. To its credit, “Mandela” adopts a personal tone, as family members, colleagues, and the great man himself weigh in on an extraordinary life, built around the long, torturous battle for equal representation in South Africa. Though the film contains isolated scenes of violence, “Mandela” constitutes appropriate (and important) viewing for teens and their parents.
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Winner of the 2002 Best Foreign Film Oscar, Germany’s “Nowhere in Africa” is the wrenching, inspiring tale of one family’s displacement and subsequent perseverance in adapting to a primitive land. In 1938, formerly affluent Jewish lawyer Walter Redlich (Merab Ninidze) and wife Jettel (Juliane Köhler) are forced to leave Hitler’s Germany with their children and settle in a remote part of Kenya, not knowing whether it will be a temporary refuge or a permanent home. Maintaining an epic feel without losing its rich emotional flavor, “Nowhere” pays eloquent tribute to the hardiness of the human spirit.

Finally, in 2003’s riveting documentary, “The Lost Boys Of Sudan”, youths Peter and Santino, long orphaned by their country’s brutal civil war, languish in a refugee camp, waiting to immigrate to America. When the approvals come through, the boys are simultaneously excited and heartbroken to leave their friends and culture. Once stateside, they quickly learn the land of plenty is tougher than expected, with new rules and customs to learn, and the promise of education undermined by the need to earn money. Though each boy meets with varying success, our hearts go out to them both as they navigate a bewildering world alone. Don’t miss this humbling film about two outsiders who attempt to beat slim odds and at long last, make a real home for themselves.