The first mature drama directed by Steven Spielberg, The Color Purple, has arrived on Blu-ray. This harrowing period piece, based on Alice Walker's novel of the same name, has become curiously underrated in Spielberg's filmography. Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan seem to be held in much higher regard, so if you haven't seen The Color Purple in awhile this is a perfect time to revisit it. Despite being a significant box office success, a backlash developed against the film based primarily upon the fact that a white director was helming this adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about African-Americans. What seems somewhat overlooked, more than twenty-five years after its release, is how nuanced and deeply felt his work on the film was.
Of course, the outstanding performances are what carry the film regardless of one's opinion of whether Spielberg was right for the job. In her film debut, Whoopi Goldberg plays Celie Harris, a woman born into crushing abuse at the hands of her father during the Depression era. Goldberg delivers a powerful performance as Celie's abuse continues by the man she is forced to marry. That man, Albert Johnson, is played with seething ferocity by Danny Glover. Known to Celie as "Mister," Johnson forces the separation of Celie from her sister Nettie (Akosua Busia). The Color Purple tracks Celie's process of discovery her own self worth despite all the injustices being committed against her. Goldberg makes the transformation palpably real, allowing the audience to see Celie truly overcome adversity to earn respect for herself.
Every bit as effective is Oprah Winfrey, who plays Sofia, the wife of Albert Johnson's son. Sofia refuses to stand down to the men who try to treat her as a subservient. Ultimately this results in a very tragic situation for the headstrong Sofia, as she is severely punished for standing up to those who would disrespect her. Winfrey is a far cry from the talk show giant we have known her as for so long. Though she very rarely exercised her acting chops again following this Academy Award-nominated supporting role, she makes an indelible impression as Sofia.
Debuting on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded transfer, The Color Purple presents a satisfyingly natural, film-like image. Much of the cinematography was intentionally a bit soft focus. This might be off-putting to viewers expecting a razor sharp picture, but truth be told the presentation accurately represents Allen Daviau's Oscar-nominated cinematography. Detail remains quite strong. Beads of sweat streaming down people's faces, individual leaves of plants in the fields, all of these are well defined. Not a vibrantly colorful movie overall, the green of the fields, the earth tones of wooden flooring and dirt, and of course the purple flowers are all well represented. Intentionally underlit night scenes suffer a tiny bit from so-called black crush (a lack of detail resulting in a dark, murky look). None of these very minor issues detract significantly from a strong high definition presentation.
Article comments
1 - Proman
Enough of this "first mature drama" crap. While I can made a very good case for "Jaws" being a legitimate drama, the truth is, Spielberg made a movies that met those criterias over a decade before "Color Purple". Take the great "Sugarland Express" for example with it's relationship, mistakes and uncompromising endings.
2 - Butch
Yeah "Jaws" can be viewed as a drama but it also is highly reliant on a great white shark killing people.
"Sugarland Express" has drama too, but much of it's appeal is based on being a 'fugitives on the run' road movie. And it's "maturity" level is certainly a matter of highly subjective opinion. Spielberg was very obviously still finding his legs as a filmmaker.
"Color Purple" was undoubtedly something entirely different for Spielberg. There were no gimmicks or hooks to reel the audience in. Just human drama and nothing else.
3 - Proman
"And it's "maturity" level is certainly a matter of highly subjective opinion."
I cannot disagree more with that. And to me, what makes the film is not the "fugitives on the run" aspect but the interraction between the characters and their actions. The stakes are very high and they only keep increasing. It's a drama and it's perfectly mature.
In fact, it's creadit to Spielberg that, just like he would do in Jaws, he keeps viewers at a distance and turns the thing into something of a morality play.
"Yeah "Jaws" can be viewed as a drama but it also is highly reliant on a great white shark killing people."
That is a uniquelly shallow way to view that film.