Every time Oscar season rolls around, movie geeks can’t help but reminisce about films, directors, and actors that got snubbed in past years and then those that won undeservedly (sorry, Crash). Sometimes the snubs are isolated; one terrific performance or film losing out unexpectedly, but every few years there’s an absolute shut out, when a film that garnered huge numbers of nominations leaves the ceremony empty handed. In the case of The Color Purple, a moving, understated and unlikely opus by Steven Spielberg, the nominations were all well-deserved and to this day I’m flabbergasted that it received none of the awards in any of the 11 categories for which it was nominated. 25 years later and The Color Purple stands as a moving piece of filmmaking, and the transfer into hi-def only makes the matter of its 11 losses that much more glaring.
Based on the classic piece of American literature of the same name by Alice Walker, The Color Purple paints a graphic picture through a series of letters and personal diary entries about life for a black woman in the southern states of America during the 1930s. The visceral depictions that Walker painted with her words receive a vivid retelling through Spielberg’s lens with incredible sweeping shots of the south, terrific performances from the cast, and an apt translation of the book to a screenplay. The film’s protagonist, Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) has a rough life starting in her childhood when her father impregnates her twice, making her a mother of two by the time she’s barely a teenager. She goes it alone living a cold existence with Albert (Danny Glover), the man her father forced her to marry, with little emotional support until the kindly though blunt jazz musician Shug (Margaret Avery) moves in with them. Albert treats Celie only slightly better than he would a slave and her time spent in his house is denigrating and humiliating more often than not. Celie grows ever closer with Shug and Albert’s daughter Sofia (Oprah Winfrey) and the emotional and mental scars left by her youth begin to heal.
The film is a genuine triumph for the actors that populate its frames. Each of them delivers one of the greatest performances they ever mustered, if not the best. In the case of Goldberg, it was her first major film and arguably the best role of her career. It’s never good to peak playing your first part, but considering the film and the role, it’s a pretty tall feat to expect to go much higher than this. (Some of you might point out that she won an Oscar for her role in Ghost – but I’m sorry, that’s one of those undeserved Oscars that we made mention of earlier.) If she ever deserved an Oscar, it was for The Color Purple, unfortunately the competition that year was just too fierce. Danny Glover and Margaret Avery also delivered stellar performances and without them the film would have lacked much of its emotional heft. Taking the amazing turns delivered by the cast of The Color Purple, it’s no wonder Oprah attempted to recreate the success years later with Beloved – only to fail miserably, because Beloved doesn’t come close.
The novel was a Pulitzer Prize-winning piece of Americana, and the novel manages to capture most of what made it such a striking look at the way things were.
Considering some of the visuals Spielberg created for the film, the HD transfer is quite impressive and it’s great to see the film looking better now than it ever did before, 25 years after the fact.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Considering the booklet casing for the disc, which includes bios on the actors and color photos, you’d expect a little bit of extra work to have gone into the disc’s bonus features – but you’d be wrong. The extras, whose titles explain themselves, have just been ported from a previous DVD release and include: “Conversations with the Ancestors: The Color Purple from Book to Screen”, “A Collaboration of Spirits: Casting and Acting The Color Purple”, “The Color Purple: The Musical”, “Cultivating a Classic: The Making of The Color Purple”, and finally some photo galleries featuring its cast and documenting the creation of the film.
"The Color Purple" is on sale January 25, 2011 and is rated PG13. Drama. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Alice Walker (novel), Menno Meyjes (screenplay). Starring Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery.
