Review of THE COLOR PURPLE (2023): Emancipation from Exploitation

 March 7, 2024

As teenagers, homely Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and her prettier sister Nettie (Halle Bailey) were the best of friends. Celie was being sexually-abused repeatedly by their father Alfonso Harris (Deon Cole). She had already giving birth to two babies, who were both given away right after they were born. Alfonso then made Celie marry a ne'er-do-well who called himself Mister (Colman Domingo), who inflicted physical abuse on her. 

Eight years later, Mister's eldest son Harpo (Corey Hawkins) announced that he wanted to marry a tough woman named Sofia (Danielle Brooks). Celie (Fantasia Barrino) was fascinated by Sofia's strength of character and bold defiance of men, and they became close friends. Popular jazz singer Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) came to perform in Harpo's saloon, and she also became close friends with Celie, despite being Mister's mistress.

"The Color Purple" was first a book written by Alice Walker in 1982. In 1985, it was adapted into an acclaimed film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery. In 2005, a Broadway musical version debuted, with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, and a book by Marsha Norman. This new film was based on the Broadway version of the story, with its songs.

Despite its success in the Tony Awards (11 nominations and 1 win for the 2005 original, and 4 nominations and 2 wins for the 2015 revival), there was no new song which were particularly memorable.  In the film, the song numbers felt incidentally inserted, like singing at church ("Mysterious Ways") or while building a house ("Workin'"). These song numbers tended to stall the flow of the storytelling, instead of helping it go forward. It's always welcome to hear Shug sing "Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)" again though.

Aside from their melodramatic moments, the main triumvirate all sang the heck out of their songs. Brooks had "Hell No!" Henson had "Push Da Button." Barrino had "I'm Here." Together, they had a colorful upbeat "Miss Celie's Pants," and an epiphanic finale "The Color Purple." Presented as a musical, the story felt sanitized despite the dark subject matter. Female empowerment was main message, but a lesbian subtext was also implied. 7/10