Hope from hell
★★★★
On its awards-laden trek from page to screen and stage, The Color Purple has preached hope and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression, racial segregation and domestic violence.
First as a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel penned by Alice Walker, then as Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film starring Whoopi Goldberg as much abused wife Celie – and most recently as a Tony Award-winning musical stage play that transferred to London in 2013.
Director Blitz Bazawule’s impassioned big screen adaptation of the theatre staging draws some of its emotional firepower from
American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino as Celie, a survivor of physical and sexual abuse in early 20th-century rural Georgia who is determined to find her place in a cruel, unforgiving world. Married off against her will to local farmer Mister (Colman Domingo), Celie is steadily worn down to quiet subservience until her husband’s mistress, sultry jazz singer Shug Avery (Taraji P Henson), sashays into town and lights a fire of spirited rebellion.
Strong-willed confidante Sofia (Danielle Brooks) fans the flames and sets in motion Celie’s hard-fought self-empowerment, echoed in the barnstorming I’m Here.
Barrino winds up for a mighty emotional wallop with that song but only lands a glancing blow. Brooks reprises her stage role and captures lightning in a bottle for a second time, almost stealing the film and our hearts with her commanding rendition of fiery anthem Hell No.
Editor Jon Poll previously worked on The Greatest Showman and he replicates that energy with perfectly synchronised cuts to the spectacular song and dance sequences, expertly choreographed by Fatima Robinson.
The steaminess certainly rises for Henson’s show-stopping solo: a sweatglistening performance of Push Da Button wearing an alluring red beaded dress and feather headpiece, which gets a riverside juke joint a-jumpin’ and our toes tapping. In the darkest hours, music is a guiding light.
‘‘ Sex abuse survivor Celie is determined to find her place in a cruel world