A decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbrea...
There’s a sadly lackluster feel to parts of director Blitz Bazawule‘s “The Color Purple,” a reimagined adaptation of Alice Walker’s beloved novel that combines elements of the original 1985 film with the Broadway musical. This updated version adds its own little twists of creative flair, but despite a powerhouse cast, show stopping musical numbers, and Bazawule’s determination to make an eye-popping spectacle, it finds a varying degree of success overall.
Set in Georgia in the early 1900s, the film is a decades-spanning tale of one woman’s journey over adversity to eventually claim her independence. In this story of sisterhood and resilience, Celie (Fantasia Barrino) faces an unimaginable list of hardships during her life. Torn apart from her sister and children, the film follows Celie’s journey from escaping an abusive father, to surviving an abusive marriage, to discovering a perseverance that leads to a strength both physical and spiritual.
While this is a partially uplifting story, the subject matter is tough and uncomfortable. There are disturbing elements of trauma, including abuse, rape, and incest, and it’s difficult to get over that fact. No amount of inspiring musical numbers is going to soften those themes, and it sometimes feels as if the emotional identity of the story is stripped bare in favor of big, bold, song and dance routines. It’s terrific to have such a positive feminist message as the women in the story learn to stand up for themselves, but the distressing undercurrents put a damper on things.
The costumes are spectacular, and the visual pomp and circumstance is ambitious. This is a stellar cast (which includes Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Ciara, David Alan Grier, and Corey Hawkins) that can sing and dance, but the performances acting-wise are just okay. I found the film to be overacted to a fault, with a particularly distracting performance from Henson and a coarse lead turn from Barrino. Together, however, the ensemble complements each other well.
Although there’s something that feels wholly underwhelming about “The Color Purple,” there’s still a lot that this story does right. It’s definitely a tale of cultural importance, and fans of the novel, original film, and musical will find plenty of savor.
