1985 – The Color Purple

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Color Purple – 1985

I’ve seen this incredible movie before and after watching it for a second time, I am really reminded how absolutely touching and moving the story was.  Director, Steven Spielberg, might be mostly known for his Science Fiction and action/Adventure films like E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, or the Indiana Jones Franchise, or Jaws, or Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or Jurassic Park.  I, myself, am often guilty of forgetting that he was behind such other fantastic dramas like Schindler’s List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, and War Horse.  The Color Purple may not have had as big a budget as some of these other films, but it was just as dramatic and just as powerful.

The film deals with the plight of a poor, uneducated, unattractive, African American girl named Celie Harris.  As the story begins, 14 year old Celie, beautifully played by Desreta Jackson, and her younger, more attractive sister, Nettie, live in fear of their evil, pedophile father who has a habit of raping Celie, and has actually gotten her pregnant twice.  Then, when she delivered each of her children, he took them away from her and she never saw them again.

Eventually, Celie is given to a man named Albert Johnson, played by Danny Glover, as his wife, though he wants Nettie.  Celie calls him Mister and becomes his slave, keeping his house and raising his children.  Meanwhile, Nettie, fearful of being raped by her father, comes to live with Celie and Albert.  After a while Albert tries to rape Nettie.  When she eludes him by kicking him in the crotch, he throws her out, separating her from her beloved sister, Celie.  Years go by and the adult Celie is played by Whoopi Goldberg.

Mister regularly rapes her, beats her bloody, puts her down, calls her ugly, and yet expects her to be as obedient as a dog.  And all the while, he is in love with a jazz singer named Shug Avery, played by Margaret Avery.  One day he brings a very sick Shug home to take care of her.  He is incapable of doing so, but Celie isn’t.  She nurses Shug back to health and the two women become close friends, close enough that their relationship eventually becomes physically intimate.

I have to take some time to say how phenomenally impressed I was with Goldberg’s performance.  She was truly incredible.  We all know Whoopi for her career as a comedienne, but there was nothing even slightly amusing about her dramatic character.  She was a woman who was almost cripplingly shy, a woman who had been victimized for so long that she hardly knew how be anything but a victim.  She is completely subservient to the men who mistreat her.  Goldberg was so remarkably convincing in her performance.

There were some scenes in the film which stood out to me as being perfectly executed.  The combination of intense acting, a dramatic score, great cinematography, and an emotionally charged script really made me become invested in the story.  For example, when Mister forcibly separates Nettie and Celie and runs Nettie off his property, I was nearly in tears.  Then there was the scene in which, after many years of physical and emotional abuse, Celie fights back against Mister and leaves him, running away with Shug and her new husband.  And then, the tearful climax of the film when Celie is not only reunited with her sister, but with her two lost children, is just spiritually uplifting.

Now I would be remiss if I didn’t mention three other actors who each played their parts perfectly.  Albert’s oldest son, Harpo was played by Willard Pugh.  He eventually finds love with a plump woman with a temper like a hurricane, Sophia, played by Oprah Winfrey.  As a matter of fact, Sophia’s little sub-plot in which she fights back from being beaten by a white man and is thrown in jail for 8 years was heart-wrenching, largely due to Oprah’s great performance.  And finally, Adolph Caesar did a great job as Mister’s sorry excuse for a father.

The entire cast did a great job, making The Color Purple a good movie.  But it was the great direction of Spielberg that elevated the film from good to great.  It is a movie that shows us that no matter how difficult life becomes, hope can always steer us toward happiness.  All it takes from us is patience and endurance.  It is a beautiful message that is beautifully conveyed.