Well, this is one of those movies that hinges on a singular performance. In this case it's Danny Glover who is absolutely amazing in his role, probably the best performance of his career, and one of the best that came out of the 80s. But Goldberg and Oprah really stink. I don't know what was going on there but they were all over the place. However, despite them, Glover does carry the role, and Spielberg realized that this was a film adapted from a play. He kind of took that and ran with it, so the performances (minus two notable ones) were as earnest as you would get in live theater, the set designs, the camera movements, it all felt less like a movie and a lot more like, well, like you were seeing it live on Broadway. And, honestly, I think that worked. It was a unique approach and it made it wonderful to watch.
Review via The Movie Database (TMDB)
I think that rarely can a better cast have been assembled to tell a story than here. Telling the often quite harrowing lifestory of "Celie" (Whoopi Goldberg), we take a poignant look at a life in the American south where racism certainly prevailed, but where the African-American community saw it's own women frequently brutalised by their own menfolk. She frequently finds herself on the wrong end of the wrath of her husband "Albert" (Danny Glover) but her options aren't just limited, they're pretty much non-existant. Sadly, this relationship wasn't her first with a man who treated her with contempt - at fourteen she was delivered of a baby conceived with a father whose response was something along the lines of "your mama can't do this for me no more". She does have one ray of light in her life, though, and that's her sister "Nettie" - but when she falls foul of her husband she is banished from their home and, we assume, returns to Africa. The story of "Celie" provides a conduit for other character studies here, too, and of those the most significant is probably that of the no-nonsense "Sofia" (Oprah Winfrey) whose own altercation with an unforgiving white woman sees her savagely beaten, imprisoned and only released after years in a cell that have robbed her of not just her dignity, but of her vitality as well. Set across a period of three decades or more, though, you always feel that there is a sembance of hope and as time creeps on and "Celie" sees other black women achieve greater freedom, even wealth and success, it is surely only a matter of time before she can shake off the shackles of her loveless marriage. It's also worth mentioning Danny Glover and Willard Pugh here, too. The former her husband but perhaps the more toxic being the latter - "Harpo". Here is an old man whose views on women had hardly evolved from the dark ages and who has intentionally passed those onto his malleable son whom Glover convincingly portrays in a more complicated and dare I say even vulnerable fashion as the story unfolds. Certainly, it's a powerful critique on the ghastliness of segregated politics and supremacies - but it's isn't so much a portrayal of black versus white, more one of black versus black - man against woman, and Goldberg shines throughout with a poignant, exposed and thoroughly engaging performance. Add a score from Quincy Jones and some production design from heaven and you have a characterful piece of cinema that gets more watchable as it gets older.
Review via The Movie Database (TMDB)