MOVIE TITLE: The Color Purple

RUNNING TIME: 119 minutes

RATING:

WHO'S IN IT: Danny Glover, Adolph Cesar, Margaret Avery, Rae Dawn Chung, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Laurence Fishburne

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Director Stephen Spielberg begins with a beautiful shot of purple flowers in a field, then two Black girls running and playing clapping games in it. It is the only semblance of innocence in the movie, as when they step from the tall flowers it shows that one is pregnant. And whentheir father snarls at them to get inside, it is the sign of things to come. The movie quickly goes to winter 1909 and the pregnant Celine (played by Whoopi Goldberg as an adult) giving birth with the assistance of her sister Nettie, the child being snatched from her after a few seconds by her father - who is the father of both her children. It is the beginning of unending abuse in an emotional cauldron which it may be wise for men to not watch with their partners, as man-hating is a distinct possibility. Celine is given away like a cow to 'Mister', and their first bout in bed comes when her head is still in a bloody bandage from the literally stony greeting she got from his son. Then she is separated from Nettie, who had come to live with her, after Mister's advances are met with a blow (of the crippling kind) to the groin. Nettie is thrown off the land and there is an especially touching scene as they play a final clapping game from afar and promise love forever. Celine loses her sister, her innocence, her babies, her self-esteem but not her mind, and The Color Purple does have a few funny moments, one coming when she spits in Mister's father's water and watches him swig, and another when Mister's son's wife Sophia (a very pugnacious Oprah Winfrey) hits him back. Still, it is always against a very sad background and the irony of learnt abuse is underscored by the fact that it was Celine who had advised the attempted beating of Sophie in the first place. Things come to a head when Mister gets to carry home Shug Avery (Margaret Avery) - whose first drunken words to Celine are about how ugly she is - the woman he had always loved, building a juke joint (Harpo's) for the singer with buddy Swain. By now it is summer of 1922 and after the music and the merrymaking there are fisticuffs at Harpo's, after Sophia sends her former husband's girlfriend (a runt who had delivered a very ill-advised slap) skating across the floor and into the river below with a helluva punch. In the end, redemption comes from an unlikely source as Shug dresses Celine in her shimmering red outfit and encourages her to smile, the result being the most beautiful beam you ever did see. The Color Purple closes with a kiss between them - and it is not a platonic peck on the cheek.

LONG STORY SHORT: The Color Purple is a beautifully made film about one woman's hell in a society that is unkind to women, but avoids clichés.

THE REEL LOW-DOWN: Feminists should love it, some men will hate it, but it is a classic.

- Mel Cooke

Drama

Ratings:

★ Save your money