Auteur Steven Spielberg had proved in his early masterpiece that he's not only a science-fiction supremo but also an emissary for humanity. In one of the most brilliant movies he ever made, The Color Purple is a timeless tale about the tests of faith, the sufferings of life, the endless love between two sisters, who were separated almost all of their lives and the victory of a true soul. It may not be Spielberg's story, as it was based on a novel by Alice Walker, but this was made of Spielberg's craft, every minute, every scene.

Here is a girl named Celie (Whoopi Goldberg). She's black, she's silent and she tells her story in a way of letters to God. Because nobody had been trying to listen to her, aside from the most loving person on Earth to her which was her sister Nettie, her letters were her way of staying sane in the world of insanity and cruelty. At the heart of this film, we are showed that Celie lived in a world of cruelty and that all her life was spent in servitude to somebody. In the first few scenes, we see Celie with Nettie running free-spiritedly in the fields of purple flowers, playing, laughing, smiling with blissful joy but then we are cut into her dismal life. She was raped by her own father and was giving birth to a baby, only to be given to and be adopted by other people. She was then being told off that she lost the ability to become pregnant and was forced to marry a Southern man, which he call Mister (Danny Glover). This was where Celie's life turned into hell. Mister is a very cruel man. He smiles, he laughs but he strikes on Celie without hindrances. Maybe he doesn't even know how cruel he was to Celie, especially the scene in which he seizes Nettie of Celie's grasp, away from her own sister. In one of movie history's most poignant scenes, we see these two sisters trying to hold on to each other while Mister breaks them apart. Spielberg here deftly and magnificently moved me to tears in this very splendid almost 10 minute scene. Even in this scene alone, we could say the performances will stagger the whole humanity and let us all fall into tears. Nettie shouts, crying and horrified to Mister "Why? Why?" and Mister throws stones at her. This is the point in the film where we then know that Celie was about to face her life alone.

Then comes the character of Shug Avery (played by Margaret Avery), a jazz singer who became hopeless about her life, about men and career. She was devastated, a portrait of a person who's giving up on life yet not knowing what to do or how to end it. For the first time Shug Avery saw Celie in front of the door, she utters with a snigger "You sure is ugly!". But Shug was wrong; after a few days when Celie was catering to her needs i.e. food, breakfast, meals, booze - she saw something more beautiful inside Celie. Although Mister always mocks her and coax her to believe that she was ugly as sin, this was the time when Celie realises that love can be tender and soft and warm and gentle. Shug also realises that a person like Celie was the thing she needed the most, a kind heart to be with to find the very kindness within her as well. She was reawakened.

There is also the character Sofia (played astoundingly by Oprah Winfrey), who's the life force of the film, The Color Purple. Every time she walks into a scene, she walks with compelling force, and plays a dominant figure in Harpo's life. Harpo was Mister's son by first marriage, and Sofia was a tremendous lady with a tremendous attitude and she tells Harpo to choose between her and his father. But Harpo couldn't decide because he grew up attending to everybody's happiness. Sofia is a kind of person who never gets stopped or never gets trampled but she was indeed stopped when she calls the white mayor to "go to hell" and picked up a fight, only to find herself a little later in jail and a long-life of service to the mayor's wife, who's a terrible driver. One of the best scenes in the film was when Sofia became mellow and teaches the mayor's wife how to drive and when they enter the shop and instructs Sofia to do the shopping, Celie helped Sofia with it. By this, Sofia realised that there's still a person in the world who cares for her, who sympathizes her.

Certainly, this film is made not out of perfection but with a heart and the truth it conveys. The Color Purple gives us the chance to see the beautiful things behind the cruelty and the madness. Celie is a brilliant movie character and Whoopi Goldberg played her to the point that we feel sympathy with her even though she talks less, and sometimes narrates in her own mind. But when we see her smile, we smile. It's a triumphant film and Whoopi Goldberg had indeed gave her best performance of her life. It's just a bit sad that we couldn't see her now doing serious films. Oprah Winfrey was exceeding my expectation and she transformed this character Sofia into a wonderful caricature of a person who bullies people and finally realising all the faults in life.

I could not blame Steven Spielberg putting all postcard landscapes in this film because I think he tries to put beauty outwardly in the story of suffering and cruelty. Nonetheless, this film wasn't just about trials and hardships, but it's about the victory of life and how Celie won it all. The reunion of two sisters at the end with Celie's children was a joyous movie moment. Just like this film, a joyous celebration of life and what it offers to everyone.


Rating: A+