This movie is set around the turn of the century in the South. It opens with two sisters playing in a field, obviously very much loving each other. As the leave the field we see that one (Celie) of them is pregnant. Soon we learn that her daddy knocked her up. This is her second child by him, both of them were then given to a seperate family.
The story shifts and we find that one of the other men in the community has taken a liking to her younger sister. He approaches to ask for her in marriage but her father says no, take the older one. And so the sisters are seperated. But only briefly, as the younger girl quickly joins her to get away from their father's plans. Well, out of the pot, into the fire as they say, Celie's new husband wants his hands on her too. And on and on. The life of black women in the south at that time was far from easy. This movie jumps from injustice to injustice; beatings, adultery, incest and of course, racism.
This is a Speilberg film and it has his usual polish. The story is well told. The staging is well presented. The acting is sharp. But...it never really engaged me. In some ways, this is the most 'chick-flick' of all the movies I've reviewed so far. It felt like a story exclusivly told for women. Some very powerful moments though. This was an Oprah driven project and she's very good in it. I'd say it's good but not great.
2 comments:
I've seen this movie approximately 80 times and cried at the end every single time (it's a sister-sister thing, so you might not get it). I always found Celie's relationship to Shug to be interesting, too, but then, Celie's not exactly happy in her marriage. I only recently discovered (by watching Dawson's Creek, yes I'll admit it--though this was four or five years ago) that this movie was directed by Steven Spielberg.
I think you're right about the sister-sister thing.
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