“The Color Purple” Review
(From Left) With an outstanding ensemble cast including H.E.R., Danielle Brooks, Fantasia Barrino and Taraji P. Henson, “The Color Purple”, a musical film adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the iconic novel, is one of the richest crowd-pleasing films available to watch in theaters.
With “The Color Purple”, there’s a certain amount of tact that must be taken when reimagining this story for the big screen. Not just because of how beloved and groundbreaking Alice Walker’s 1982 novel is but also because the previous 1985 cinematic adaptation, helmed by Steven Spielberg with outstanding performances by Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover, is an excellent film that would not be easy to match. However, now embodied as a musical film, Blitz Bazuwale’s version of “The Color Purple” is a marvelous musical film that manages to stand apart from past adaptations while celebrating the themes of the original novel.
Based on the Tony Award-winning musical, the film tells a sweeping, 40-year epic of the life of Celie Harris (Fantasia Barrino), a black woman living in Georgia in the early 1900s, who goes from an abusive father to an abusive marriage to the cruel Albert “Mister” Johnson (Colman Domingo). With her only bright light, her sister Nettie (Ciara), having disappeared from her life when they were young, Celie tries to move through life one day at a time focused on survival. However, by hanging onto her kindness and meeting other strong women, including the larger-than-life singer Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson), Celie finds that the true beauty of life comes from those we share love with and the willingness to seek a better tomorrow for yourself and others.
I had very few doubts that this version of “The Color Purple” would be good. Not only is the original story just a marvelous piece of historical fiction, but I was excited about the direction Blitz Bazuwale (whose previous work has included the Beyoncé musical film “Black is King”) was going to take with the film. By adapting the Broadway stage show instead of just another straight adaptation of the book, there is more of an identity with this film than other remakes.
With a lofty runtime of two-hours-and-20-minutes, “The Color Purple” is paced brilliantly with a near-perfect balance of heavy drama with well-staged and well-sung musical numbers. With clear influences like classic spirituals, gospel, jazz and blues along with modern Broadway sensibilities, the music of this film is breathtaking with everyone in the cast having their chance to shine as musical performers.
Fantasia Barrino is just wonderful as Celie with a character journey that is remarkable from start to finish. To see this woman go from such harsh living conditions to a life of freedom that she never thought was possible was so beautiful. During the Broadway musical’s original run, Barrino was one of the actors to play Celie and you can tell that she has such a reverence for this character and the level of dedication and emotional depth that she gives to this film is something truly years in the making. With a voice so beautiful and full of warmth, I can only hope to see more of Fantasia Barrino on the big screen after such a spectacular debut and one of the most powerful musical moments of 2023 with her performance of “I’m Here”.
Directed by Blitz Bazuwale (above), “The Color Purple” has this sensitive beauty to it with enough fresh ideas to make it stand out from previous adaptations.
Along with a stacked and outstanding supporting cast, “The Color Purple” doesn’t have one weak link in its players. Not only are some of them veterans of past productions of the Broadway musical, like Barrino and Danielle Brooks, but all of them have a remarkable commitment to this film and strong voices to match. With the likes of Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Jon Batiste and David Alan Grier, every musical number the film has is bursting with mood and emotion no matter who the focus is on. Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks are big stand-outs as Shug Avery and Sofia with both of these women showing Celie how it is possible to stand tall and free in a man’s world. Danielle Brooks’ leaving vocals on “Hell No!” are especially engaging and I was especially interested in the film’s direction whenever she was on screen.
Colman Domingo is also captivating as Mister because, despite most of Mister’s behavior being anger-inducing and deplorable, Domingo does bring the humanity that this role requires. Instead of being a one-note villain, Mister feels much more like a three-dimensional person which makes his actions all the more frightening. I also believe that Halle Bailey and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi should get significant attention for their emotionally riveting performances as younger versions of Nettie and Celie. While Bailey has had an outstanding year with the release of “The Little Mermaid” and her solo single “Angel”, I hope that Mpasi’s career also grows.
While I’m pretty happy with not comparing this film too much to Spielberg’s adaptation, one element of that film that would be hard to contend with is the rich atmosphere the original had that was bolstered by Allen Daviau’s Oscar-nominated cinematography. However, Dan Laustsen’s work behind the camera has resulted in a beautiful looking movie with outstanding uses of camera movement, color and light that makes “The Color Purple” as much of a feast for the eyes as it is for the ears.
With so many different artistic powerhouses working in front of and behind the camera for this film, “The Color Purple” could have been the mess that happens when you have too many cooks in one kitchen. That is not the case because everyone that was on board for this film had the same goal: to create something that pays tribute to what has come before while also becoming a fresh, new take on an iconic story. The cast’s performances, Blitz Bazuwale’s direction, Dan Laustsen’s cinematography, choreography by Fatima Robinson, a new score by Kris Bowers and support from legendary producers like Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones have all resulted in a beautiful film about love, resilience and forgiveness that is sure to win over those who love the book and the original film as well as introduce a whole new generation of viewers to this timeless story.
