I Dreamed of Africa

7/4/2026

I Dreamed of Africa (2000) is the tale of a self-righteous, self-appointed white savioress. The movie opens with the subtitle “A True Story” and closes with a caption claiming that Kuki Gallmann (Kim Basinger) “became a writer and internationally respected conservationist.” An internationally respected conservationist who doesn’t know that “sucking out” the venom of a snake does more harm than good. Here’s a film that’s equal parts ignorance, arrogance, and hypocrisy. The first act is devoted to Paolo Gallmann’s (Vincent Perez) bizarre courtship of Kuki. They’re both survivors of a car crash that claimed the lives of a bunch of other people who are of no consequence at all. “For a while, I couldn’t remember who else was in the car,” says Paolo. Neither could, for that matter, writers P