The Color Purple

Dir: Steven Spielberg/USA/154 mins/Dolby stereo

Lps: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery

Adapting for the screen a novel as powerful as Alice Walker's Pulitzer prize-winning 'The Color Purple' lays a director open to all sorts of criticisms of trivialisation, especially when that director is Steven Spielberg. No doubt it was partly his reputation as well as the film's subject matter which caused it not to win any of its 11 Oscar nominations in 1986.

The harsh conditions of life for a black family in Georgia during the first half of the century form the backdrop to the story. It centres around Miss Celie who, after her children have been taken away by her 'Pa', is married off at 14 to a brutal and selfish farmer. However it is through her relationship with an old flame of her husband's, Shug Avery, that Celie begins her journey of discovery, from passive submission to proud self-emancipation.

Despite the fact that certain elements in the novel are played down, the film still retains much of its richness and power. The Amercian comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, gives a stunning film debut as Celie, conveying both the gaucheness and inner strength of her character. Admittedly there is a rather rose-tinted, or purple-tinted, atmosphere; yet behind this nostalgic haze, one can still sense the pain and suffering, made more forceful by the occasions of humour and release. With a superb score by Quincy Jones and a highly impressive cast, The Color Purple is a very evocative and enjoyable film. 

ML

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