The Color Purple
Release Date: December 18, 1985
Run Time: 154 Mins
Nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress Whoopi Goldberg, Best Supporting Actress Oprah Winfrey, Best Supporting Actress Margaret Avery, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Make-Up, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song.
It Won ZERO Academy Awards....
By Sean Knight
The Color Purple was a departure for Spielberg in many ways. It was his first serious drama. Spielberg himself has described it as the stepping-stone that allowed him to make Empire of the Sun (which is essentially about the death of childhood) and, eventually, Schindler’s List. Spielberg was dealing with a subject that, at first glance, he didn’t have much in common with – the plight of African American women in early 1900’s. He was adapting a Pulitzer Prize winning book, that didn’t have any signature Spielberg flights of fancy, to the big screen. The Color Purple made Spielberg grow as an artist. He was no longer directing science fiction or adventure films, but a story with real human characters with a sense of history. On this recent viewing it was clear to me, more than ever, that this is the film that allowed Spielberg to step out of his comfort zone and confront subjects that disturbed and challenged him.
The sense of a real acting ensemble is prevalent throughout the movie. Spielberg treats his characters with sensitivity and attempts to give even the most minor characters a sense of depth. The Color Purple’s narrative is sprawling, so there is a lot of ground to cover and lots of supporting players to develop. Occasionally, The Color Purple begins to feel a little long-winded because of this. This is essentially the story of Celie and her love for her sister Nettie. The journey is Celie’s journey, and while the supporting characters are integral to that, I’m not sure it’s necessary to take as many diversions for them. At the same time these diversions do pay off with some powerful moments such as Shug’s reuniting with her father through gospel music, or Sophia’s dramatic return home to her family after being imprisoned for several years. Perhaps if the screenplay were more streamlined these wouldn’t seem like issues, because Spielberg does direct the hell out of these sequences. Whoopi Goldberg is mesmerizing in her screen debut as Celie, and I don’t believe she has ever given such a complex and thoughtful performance again in her career. Oprah Winfrey is also very effective as Sophia and her dinner table breakdown is one of the highlights of the picture (in fact the entire dinner table scene is unforgettable). Margaret Avery is beautiful and sensitive as Shug Avery and Danny Glover brings a sense of humanity to what is otherwise a pretty despicable character. And finally, Akosua Bosia is confident and heartbreaking as Nettie. The cast is great from top to bottom, with many of them being first time screen actors, or very early into their careers.
Criticisms have been thrown at The Color Purple over the years despite being very well reviewed when it first came out. One of these criticisms is that Spielberg films the picture with a sort of romanticized view of the south. There is no denying that The Color Purple looks gorgeous from first frame to last, but the reason Spielberg does this is to bring a sense of hope to the narrative. At one point Shug says, “More than anything God love admiration… I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in the field and don’t notice it.” I think Spielberg took this to heart when he went about making the picture and decided to make it look as beautiful as he could. He wanted the audience to become lost in the imagery to remind them that no matter what, this world is beautiful. The whole point of the story is that after years of oppression Celie finds the strength to stand up and free herself from abuse. She realizes that she is a beautiful, strong, black woman. Despite everything else in her life, she’s here.
Another major criticism of the picture is that it jettisons much of the exploration of the homosexuality of Celie. In the book it is pretty clear that Celie is in love with Shug and to a certain extent Shug returns that love. In the movie this love is only hinted at with one scene between Celie and Shug, after Shug gets Celie to smile and really look at herself in the mirror. They share a tender kiss and Spielberg cuts away. It’s a beautifully handled scene, but it is never really returned to. Spielberg and the script definitely let Shug off the hook at the end of the picture, as her and Celie’s confrontation is not depicted. Spielberg himself later admitted that he was skittish with that aspect of the material and chose not to focus on it. He now says that if he had embraced the lesbian aspects it would have made the film stronger. I think that this is probably true, but it’s not a fatal flaw to the film.
The ending of The Color Purple is a devastatingly cathartic experience. It provides an emotional release that has been building up the entire film, as Celie and her sister Nettie are finally reunited. Spielberg goes for the gusto here and it shows you just how well the man can manipulate his audience. Spielberg can make even the most cynical of people cry – Jeanette and I were crying so hard I could barely hear the dialogue. In general, The Color Purple brings on the water works hard and often. Some of this is due to Spielberg’s sentimentality, but much of it is due to how rough the story is. If Spielberg had chose to shoot the picture straight without any of the beauty presented, it may well have been an impossible sit. I know that getting through the novel of The Color Purple was especially rough. A straight adaptation would probably have done the film a great disservice.
The Color Purple is fascinating because you begin to watch the evolution of Steven Spielberg unfold on the screen before you. That evolution would further stretch itself in Empire of the Sun. The one thing I will say. is that this was the beginning of the end of Spielberg’s childhood wonder and awe period of filmmaking. After this, he would find it pretty hard to return to that lighthearted blockbuster mode that made so many people fall in love with him. Empire of the Sun would put one of the final nails in the coffin… but that’s not to say that Spielberg wouldn’t try to recapture his youth a couple more times before his final transition into “Adult filmmaking” – Schindler’s List.
By J.J.
"I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it."
If you ever need to let some emotion out and cry I suggest you pop in The Color Purple. Oh man. The movie was not easy to get through. To make matters worse we watched The Color Purple and E.T. in the same day. DON’T RECOMMEND THAT.
The movie takes place in the south (Georgia I believe?) during the 1900’s-mid 1930’s. The movie follows Celie Harris, who by age 14 has two children by her father. She endures verbal and physical abuse and her father takes her two children away from her. Her only ally is her sister Nettie. She is forced to marry Mister Albert (Danny Glover) and basically becomes his slave. She is tasked with taking care of his house and children while he abuses her and treats her like shit. This poor girl just can’t catch a break. When her sister Nettie comes to live with her we see the bond these sisters have. Celie is happy and has an escape from her life with Mister Albert and even learns to read! When Nettie refuses advances from Mister she is thrown out and told never to come back. She tells Celie that she’ll write to her but her letters never arrive.
As the movie progresses Celie finds Sophia (Oprah Winfrey) as someone to look up. Sophia doesn’t take shit from anybody because she used to be abused by her father and brothers. She stands up for herself which ultimately leads to her landing in jail and suffering years of hardship. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance Ms. Winfrey delivered. I thought she had no problem playing a strong woman but was NOT expecting her to handle the downfall of Sophia with so much conviction. I think she is very deserving of her Oscar nomination and I wouldn’t be opposed to her making more movies….as long as they weren’t of the Tyler Perry variety.
My second favorite relationship is the relationship between Celie (Older Celie played by Whoopi Goldberg) and Shug Avery (Margaret Avery). Mister Albert has been in love with Shug for a long time and makes no effort to hide his love her from Celie. The dude was a complete douche bag. It’s funny how one of the lighter moments in the movie is when Mister Albert is scrambling around trying to get dressed and he keeps forgetting pieces of clothing and Celie just stands there calmly and hands it to him. I thought that I was a nice and necessary release from such a heavy movie. When Shug first arrives she is ill. Her first line to Celie is, “You sho’ is ugly.” What a heffer! Moving forward they become very close and Shug ends up being Celie’s saving grace. She instills a confidence in Celie that carries her through the ending of the movie.
There are five scenes in the movie that really struck a chord with me. These are the scenes that I keep coming back to when I think about the movie:
1) The scene when Mister Albert throws Nettie off his property. It was absolutely heartbreaking. Give Akosua Busia (Nettie) and Desreta Jackson (Young Celie) a round of applause, y’all. That scene was so powerful and so heartbreaking. The love they have for each other is so strong. As I was watching this scene I was trying so hard not to cry. I’ve never tried that hard not to cry in my entire life. It wasn’t until I heard Sean sniffling that I knew I couldn’t hold back. I lost it. The bond sisters have is a powerful thing. It made me wish I had a sister. I don’t…..I just have Sean.
2) You don’t mess with Oprah, y’all. Celie tells Harpo he should beat Sophia. He ends up getting a bigger ass whooping from Sophia! Sophia storms up to Celie and delivers one of the best lines from the movie. "All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men, but I ain't never thought I'd have to fight in my own house!" I respect a girl who can stand up for herself and thought it was refreshing that there was a strong female character in the movie. It’s ironic that it is her toughness that lands her in trouble.
3) Every time Mister would check the mail I knew that there was a letter to Celie in the mailbox. He told her that there was never anything for her but I knew that Nettie would write. When Shug went to the mailbox and found a letter to Celie I was so happy. I wanted so badly for something good to come to Celie and it finally came! She and Shug tore the house apart looking for the rest of the letters and when they were found I was so relieved. We learned the Nettie was in Africa and that she was caring for Celie’s two children. I was balling.
4) Celie grew some balls y’all!! She finally stood up to Mister Albert. When Shug announced that she was leaving she also announced that Celie was coming with her. YES. This scene was so effective and really showcased just how good Whoopi Goldberg is. After years of verbal and physical abuse she was finally free.
5) I don’t want to give anything away, but those who have seen the movie will understand why the last scene of the movie will bring you to tears. If you haven’t seen this movie I encourage you to watch it.
This was not an easy movie to sit through. Thank god that it was shot in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. This is an important movie for people to watch but I’m glad I waited so long to watch it. If I had seen this movie when I was younger I don’t think it would have had the same affect on me that it did. I would have gotten too caught up in the physical abuse and wouldn’t be able to appreciate the story that Mr. Spielberg brought to life.
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