I Dreamed of Africa Release Date: November 22, 2002 Starring: Kim Basinger, Vincent Perez Directed by: Hugh Hudson
Generally, I try to avoid putting "spoilers" in my reviews. But here I'm going to make an exception, so if this picture's on your must-see list, just skip ahead. Way ahead. So . . . there's this scene in I Dreamed of Africa where Paolo (Vincent Perez), the husband and soul mate, and Kuki (Kim Basinger), languish in their bedroom on their ranch in Kenya, tenderly discussing the fact that Kuki is pregnant with the couple's first child. Paolo says a few moving and significant things, and then exits to go on a hunting trip. And as he exits, I say to myself, "That guy's got ten minutes to live." I check my watch. Turns out I was being overly generous. He was dead two and a half minutes later. Directed by the mind-blowingly pedestrian Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire) from an autobiography by Kuki Gallmann, I Dreamed of Africa telegraphs the many tragic events in Gallmann's life in a way that could be called shameless — if only there was any flair involved. Gallmann, an Italian woman of some privilege (so of course Basinger is a natural to play her; in fairness to Basinger, though, she's pretty good in this), was swept off her feet to the continent of the title by Paolo, with her son-from-a-previous marriage in tow. And there she had many adventures, from the exalted to the extremely unfortunate, the upshot being that Gallmann now is a respected conservationist in Kenya. Fine. Good for her. But in this case, not so good for us.
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