Given the talent, money, and clear dedication that went into it, the final result of For Colored Girls edges past disappointment and into the realm of tragedy, a potential zeitgeist film without the breath or legs to ride the wave that was waiting for it. Based upon the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf, writer/director Tyler Perry takes that series of poems and brings it uncomfortably in the world of film, where much of its potential vitality has been contained or otherwise lost. Perry’s involvement caused a stir early on in the development process, with many fans of the original work fearing that he would turn the original’s celebration of feminine strength into a trite morality tale. Indeed, Perry doesn’t seem to have been up to the task, with the numerous characters and narrative intricacy straining his grasp of the medium. But to single out Perry for blame would be to ignore the larger failure that doomed Colored Girls before it even got out of the gate: that of American cinema to deny its own authorial voice to speak over those that are typically marginalized and relegated to supporting roles in their own stories.
As the play’s original structure would test the skill of even the most audaciously experimental director, the show’s series of poems (generally set to music, defining it as a choreopoem), they have here been worked into the narrative structure of a film that could safely be called Altmanesque in its sensibilities and scope. The previously unnamed women (idenitifed only by a color; ‘Lady in blue’, etc.) are given first names, jobs, and relationships with one another. Joanna Bradmore/Red (Janet Jackson) is a cold and powerful magazine editor who struggles to trust her huband Carl (Omari Hardwick). Juanita Sims/Green (Loretta Devine) is seeking to open a medical center, but also struggles to keep the philandering Frank (Richard Lawson) out of her life. Gilda/Gray (Phylicia Rashad) is a landlord concerned about Crystal’s/Brown’s (Kimberly Elise) relationship with her increasingly violent live in boyfriend Beau (Michael Ealy). The promiscuous Tangie/Orange (Thandie Newton) struggles with feelings of intimacy, and thus keeps herself at arm’s length from her grandmother Alica/White (Whoopi Goldberg) and her sister Nyla/Purple (Tessa Thompson), who has found herself burdened with an unintended and unwanted pregnancy. Kelly/Blue (Kerry Washington) deals with the pains of trying to get pregnant in the aftermath of an untreated STD, while Yasmine/Yellow (Anika Noni Rose) is similarly forced to deal with the aftermath of rape.
Upon release last fall, most critics were quick to savage Perry’s direction (which is probably very well-suited for most of his comedy work, but very much out of its element here), but were quick to distinguish that from the efforts by the female cast, who were almost uniformly praised as excellent. They are all, to be sure, very good (including, in a surprising cameo role, Macy Gray as a back alley abortionist), but one can’t help but feel that such comments were inspired not so much by the performances themselves as much as by the promise of the assembling of this cast, probably the most notable ensemble of women of color ever to appear in an American film. In concert with the notable source material, and the potential redemption of Perry to many of his detractors, For Colored Girls seemed to set up all the pins for a cultural event that would not only define careers, but perhaps the role of black women in film itself. It’s not too hard to pinpoint exactly why none of this happened.
Being a series of poems for ‘colored girls’, the original theatrical piece was performed only by women; that is to say, there weren’t any men to be seen anywhere in it. For the purposes of the narrative, a number of men have been added, and they bring with them a level of violence that makes even the horror in Precious appear muted and understated in comparison. What was previously only spoken about is now fully visualized, and Perry does not yet have the touch to depict these events in a way that brings out their full importance, but instead goes purely for visceral terror, making a few isolated scenes hang over the entire film like bombs waiting to drop again and again. Furthermore, their presence serves to undercut the fullness of the womens’ thoughts and feelings. While suffering at the hands of men has always been a dominant theme, actually witnessing it here serves only to compromise the integrity of what was supposed to be a women’s only space, as if to say that at the end of the day women can only really define themselves based on the way that they react to the men in their lives. Even if the strength that they find through each other is supposed to be liberating, the inclusion of the long road that it took to get there identifies them clearly as victims rather than survivors.
On its own terms, Colored Girls could best be described as an ambitious failure, but when considering the historical implications of its release, it could probably be judged considerably more harshly than that. It is only recently in our history that there existed an industry that could facilitate the mainstream marketing and release of a film whose appeal was defined only by its nonwhite talent, and there existed individuals with the clout and determination to make it happen. But it is hard to escape the feeling that one voice in Girls has been cut off, and that another has been put in its place, effectively silencing it, even if the words that it would use are the same.
Bonus Features
The disc also includes “Span of the Rainbow”, an extensive collection of work regarding both the choreopoem and the production of the film, and “Prism of Poems”, a recitation of poems from both the book and film. There’s also a ‘making of’ documentary called “Transformation: Movie Magic” and a collection of the film’s music.
"For Colored Girls" is on sale November 30, -0001 and is rated .
