Beloved

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Jonathan Demme
Starring:	Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover
Release date:	14 January, 2003
List price:	~~$14.99~~
Our price:	$12.47 that is 17% off!

Beloved

Average rating:

beloved, beloved

Beloved is one of the best films I have ever seen dealing with the controversial and often ignored issue of slavery. It is ignored because, as many critics have pointed out it is something both white and black people in the United States try very hard to forget. This probably explains why this film did not do that well on its theatrical release. In following Toni Morrison's novel very closely the film thoroughly succeeds as a literary adaptaion. The film has been criticised for being disjointed and incomprehensible however one cannot begin to imagine the suffering of slaves, and the total incomprehensibility of why this horrifying violence and abuse had to be carried on their shoulders. Slavery at the very least left slaves, even freed ones, psychologically scarred, bewildered, confused and lost from their culture and their families. One can hardly expect a film attempting to deal with these issues then to be straight forward. The perfromances are all excellent particularly from Winfrey and Glover but also from Elise and Newton. Newton in particular is superb at portraying a tormented incarnation of a baby ghost locked inside the body of an eighteen year old, trying to discover, who she is, how she can characterise herself without having known her mother, her family or why she was left behind. Her struggle is symbolic of all slaves, trying to find their identity as African-Americans in a country which, at that time did not even recognise them as people but as, one of the characters describes Sethe, animals. My only negative comment about the film is that it wasn't long enough to deal with the issues thoroughly but then no film ever has or can in regards to slavery. That is a minor complaint. See it and judge for yourself.

Beloved -

Skip the movie. Read the book.

I had such high hopes for this film, having read the novel and finding it to be one of the most beautifully written and poetic books I've ever read. Toni Morrison's award-winning BELOVED is a tough read but a rewarding one.

I'm giving the movie version two stars because of the attempt at making this book a film. I know that most movies pale in comparison to their paper inspirations, but this is a book that shouldn't have -- couldn't have -- been made into a quality adaption. Yes, you could make it a good slave/ghost story, but to keep out the beauty of Morrison's language and sentence structuring would be a travesty. Kudos for Demme to realize this, but by trying to involve the poetry and style of the novel, he's made a mess of a film. And the beautiful and talented Thandie Newton is ... distracting. Her personification of Beloved borders on comical every time she tries to communicate with other characters. Some things are better left to the reader's mind I guess.

I highly recommend everyone reads BELOVED the novel, then you will understand how poorly the screen adaption is.

- Beloved

Solid Acting

This movie is beautiful and painful to watch. It tries hard to live up to Toni Morrison's novel and succeeds in capturing many of the book's powerful images. The story's central characters are Sethe and Paul D., two ex-slaves from the "Sweet Home" plantation. Denver is Sethe's teenage daughter, the only of three (living) children who has not been driven away by the baby ghost in Sethe's house. Beloved is a strange young woman who comes to stay with the other three characters, stirring up memories of Sethe's horrible past. Acting awards go to Kimbery Elise as Denver and Thandie Newton as Beloved, who carry the movie with grace and strength. Denver is the movie's heart, and dares you not to look at her each time she crosses in front of the camera. Oprah Winfrey and Lisa Gay Hamilton do very well with the character of Sethe, portrayed at two different ages. Danny Glover is neither special nor offensive as Paul D. The story is easier to follow if you have already read the book, and might even then take more than one viewing to sufficiently grasp. The camera work is skillful, and the sets and costumes add very much to the film. Because of its style and three hour length, seeing this movie feels like watching a really good miniseries. It's an inspiring and artfully made film.

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