The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985): USA
Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy. Viewed on DVD
In the early 1900’s, you were damned if you do, and damned if you don’t, in defending yourself as a poor black woman living in the South. The Color Purple is a fictional account of the intertwined lives of several black women who are closely connected yet diverse in many ways. Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) is married off as a young girl to Mister (Danny Glover), after already having birthed two babies with her own father.
Mister demands that Celie cook and clean, look after his beastly children, and be available to him for his personal needs, all the while, treating her like trash and giving her an occasional beating.
Celie’s beloved younger sister Nettie (Akosua Busia), escapes the clutches of their father to her sister’s loving arms, where Mister welcomes her with his own lustful plans, but after too many rejections, he brutally throws her out of his house and forbids her to return.
Several years later Mister’s boy Harpo (Willard E. Pugh), marries his pregnant sweetheart, the willful Sofia (Oprah Winfrey), though advised against it by Mister.
Celie and Sophia become friends, but as family pressures mount, Harpo becomes frustrated with his bossy wife and is advised to “beat her” by Celie, whereby he does.
Having the remarkable ability to give back as much as she takes, Sophia confronts Celie and blasts her with a mouthful, saying “all my life I had to fight…my uncles, my daddy, my brothers…but I ain’t ever thought I had to fight in my own house!”
Herein is the telltale recurring theme of life as a black woman, in this film as in reality, for many women of all color, class and age – life is difficult until betrayed by your fellow woman, and then it gets harder.
And so it goes, as Mister brings his intoxicated lover, the talented and classy Shug Avery (Margaret Avery), home for Celie to care for, in which she kindly does, but Shug repays her with verbal abuse.
Meanwhile Harpo takes Squeak (Rae Dawn Chong) as his lover, who behaves rudely and disrespectfully to Sophia, who doesn’t exactly take it on the chin. As each woman gains in self respect, they eventually become supportive of each other, and circumstances get worse for Celie and more so with Sophia, before they get better.
This is an outstanding production, supported by a fine cast, with Spielberg at his best, and exceptional performances by Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey.
Winfrey is the 2011 recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, awarded by AMPAS, and truthfully speaking I can think of no other who is more deserving of it – she sort of raised the bar, a lot – AMPAS ought to consider renaming the award after Oprah Winfrey.
Although Sophia is the character Oprah is best known for as an actress, she has played many parts since, but has yet to tap into that treasure of talent that I believe is there. Personally, I’d like to see Oprah in a triumphant role geared just for her, or a comedy written specifically for her – not formally trained as an actress, she has an instinctive quality and a sensible nature not unlike many of my favorite actresses from the studio era.
Congratulations on your award Miss Oprah!
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