Michael's Movie Grade: B+
An excellent musical adaption of Alice Walker's 1982 novel.
This is a film that's heart is always in the right place. There is no doubt that the filmmakers and performers felt an emotional connection to the source material, and this can be felt through the whole film. There are moments here that will make you have to fight back the tears. The ending scene is especially very emotional. The reason for the pure emotion here is that we grow to love and care about these characters. This is especially true of our main character. Fantasia Barrino's performance as Celie is simply incredible. This performance brings a strong amount of humanity to this movie, and it is near impossible for our hearts not to ache for her every time we see her. She has played this role on stage and there is no doubt that over the course of playing this character, she has grown a strong emotional bond that you can feel every second. There are many tragic figures in film history that simply rely on the fact that we automatically hate to see anyone go through such pain for empathy rather than having us form an emotional bond. That could never be said of Celie here. Even the supporting characters are 3 dimensional here. While her abusing husband is far from a likable character for most of the film, there is more to him than simply being a stereotype. There is a certain tragedy to this character, yet this tragedy is never used to excuse any of his horrible actions. It makes us understand and relate to this character, while still not playing down how horrible his actions truly are.
While it may seem strange to make such a tragic story into a musical in 2005, inspired by the 1982 novel and Steven Spielberg's 1985 film, this story was made into a Broadway musical. This new movie is based off that Broadway musical and the songs play a major role in this film. Luckily most of the songs are fantastic. The songs (most written by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray) skillfully blend R&B, blues, gospel and showtunes to make a simply wonderful musical experience. It doesn't hurt that pretty much every member of the cast has a wonderful singing voice that is shown perfectly here. The musical numbers are just as great to watch as they are to listen to. Director Blitz Bazawule, has also worked as a rapper, songwriter and a record producer. Obviously, he has a strong connection to music. So, it should come as no surprise that he is able to make music come alive in a truly cinematic way. The pure infectious energy on the screen during the livelier musical numbers is fantastic. I do admit that there are a few songs, that aren't that memorable and the transitions to song numbers aren't always perfect. But considering how great most of these musical scenes are these are minor quibbles.
Despite its 140-minute length, parts of the story can still feel rushed. The character of Sophia has a subplot that should be very emotional. However, it is never given the time it needs so that it can be fully fleshed out. While I know that she is not the main character of the movie, this part left me feeling like I was missing something.
All and all though, this is an excellent film that I highly recommend.
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