Delayed Reaction: The Color Purple

Premise: A harrowing look at the life of an African American girl then woman in the early 20th century.

 

I have precious few Steven Spielberg movies left to see. Having checked off The Color Purple, I think I only have pre-Jaws movies left. This isn't my favorite Spielberg movie by any stretch for a few different reasons. The first is the most obvious 30+ years later. Why was Spielberg the one directing this? If someone tried making this movie today, I suspect it wouldn't be him. That's not to say white filmmakers can't make a movie about the black experience. However, there is something a little uncomfortable about watching a movie that is a critique on the cruelty of black men that's directed by a white dude. Along those lines, my second issue with the movie is that it's just so unpleasant early on. I know that's the point, but there is a reason I held off on this movie for so long. It wallows in misery in a way that's different than his other super-violent films like Schindler's List. Schindler's List was often making a point about the violence and the callousness of it. In The Color Purple, it often felt like he was saying, "let's throw one move scene of Danny Glover being awful just so the audience reeeally gets the point".

 

I guess those are really my only two issues with the movie. The performances are tremendous. This featured some otherworldly casting. Whoopi Goldberg was a comedian with basically no screen credits. Oprah Winfrey was a talk show host with no acting credits. There is no reason to suspect they'd be the right choices for this movie, but they really are. I can't believe how loathsome Danny Glover got. He's normally so likable yet he didn't feel at all out of place here. Even if I didn't always care for the scenes, it was a treat to see this cast bounce off one another.

 

This movie famously holds the Oscar record for the most nominations (11) without a win. On the one hand, some movie has got to have the record. Statistically, some movie is going to get historically screwed. On the other hand, I've seen enough movies from 1985 to know that The Color Purple should've been able to sneak in a win somewhere, A Whoopi or Oprah win wouldn't've been out of place. I suspect it's a phenomenon we see most years with the Oscars that's to blame. There's a movie everyone agree that they should like: that is an "important" movie. So, they all nominate it because they know they should. Then, when it comes time to pick winners, everyone decides to get honest and admit that they didn't like it that much really. This movie really is an "eat your vegetables" movie. It was a lot easier to pick Out of Africa, which was just as "prestige-y" but not nearly as grim.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend