Released in 2000 and directed by Hugh Hudson, "I Dreamed of Africa" stars Kim Basinger as Kuki, a divorced Italian socialite who moves to Kenya in the early 70s with her son and new husband (Vincent Perez) to start a cattle ranch. As her adventure-loving hubby leaves for days on end with his pals, Kuki faces great challenges – fierce storms, wild animals, brutal poachers, venomous snakes and worse. Meanwhile she must learn to live with a neighboring tribe while her mother (Eva Marie Saint) implores her to return home. Daniel Craig is on hand in a peripheral role. Although this movie contains some spectacular African photography, the emphasis is on the hard life of ranching in Kenya during the 70s. The director is known for a couple of great or near-great movies, e.g. "Chariots of Fire" (1981) and "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" (1984), but here he's let down by a shaky script with characters you don't know or care about, except for the protagonist, Kuki. Some scenes in the first act come off awkwardly staged and unconvincing. The result is a string of events with not enough narrative pull. Still, "I Dreamed of Africa" is worth checking out as a companion piece to other true cinematic tales of colonial Kenya, like "Out of Africa" (1985), which takes place during WWI, and "Nowhere in Africa" (2001), which takes place during WWII. The film runs 114 minutes and was shot in Kenya, South Africa and Italy.GRADE: C

...is very high indeed!But,says the heroine,all that Africa gave me was worthwhile.Was it?That's the problem of the film:too few scenes display what she did for Africa and what Africa did for her.Too often,the plot gets lost in melodramatic funerals,the mother (veteran Eva Marie Saint,the star of "North by northwest" and "on the waterfront"!) discovering Africa and quietly trying to make her daughter see reason -that is to say taking her back to Italy- .That said,the film is never dull.Kim Basinger ,given the limitations she's working under,does the best she can and we feel her love for her family and the big country she dreamed of.The landscapes are very nice .The cast includes French Vincent Perez and a pre -Bond Daniel Craig.

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

I bumped into this film on television rather unexpectedly. I've never seen L.A. Confidential so I can't say I'm a fan of Kim Basinger. But as soon as I saw the photography I just couldn't take my eyes off the TV. This is a beautiful film about a farm in Kenya where there are no mosquitoes or infectious deceases. It's about a woman in her forties trying not to get her second husband killed every time he goes away hunting or her teenager son poisoned by one of his pet snakes. So as far as I'm concerned about the characters there's not much to say but it's still a visually stunning film with some rain and maybe a storm or two throughout the whole film. Althougt, I have to admit that the actors did their best with what they had and made me cry one too many times. The children gave a spark of happiness to the feeling that you know terrible things are about to happen to the main characters. In the end, it's a sad film with a message of love of nature in savage Africa brought to us by superb Basinger and Vincent Perez, who by the way I just love since "La Reine Margot".