“I was sitting in the theater waiting for the screening of ‘Beloved’ to begin, and I hear this white, middle-aged, balding man say “I can just see it now, ‘The feel good black movie of the year.” Then I see all the other people around him chuckle and smile slightly in agreement. All I could think was “Man! These people are in for a big surprise!”
To give you a very short summary of the story: it is set towards the end of the Civil War, Sethe (played by Oprah Winfrey) is a slave who runs away from the plantation Sweet Home to Ohio to live with her mother-in-law and children, whom she had sent ahead for safety reasons. When we’re introduced to the movie and the book, we see Sethe living with Denver (Kimberly Elise), her youngest daughter and her two sons have run away because the house they live in is haunted. Paul D (Danny Glover), a man from Sweet Home, comes to see Sethe 18 years after she ran away. Then a mysterious women appears, with a croaky voice and a child-like sense to everything. We later find out that this women is Beloved, one of Sethe’s children that died and was also the spirit that haunted the house.
Before I saw the movie I had read the book by Toni Morrison, so I knew most of the story. But I still didn’t know what to expect when I walked in there because whenever I read a book and then go see the movie, I am always so disappointed with the transition from book to film. So it’s understandable, right? The great thing about this movie is that it’s a lot like the book. There are no differences between them except for the order in which it is told (just so it’s not confusing when you watch it). An example of this would be one scene that I read in the book in which Sethe gets her breast milk stolen from her by the plantation master’s two sons, physically sucking it out of her with their own mouths. When I saw it on the screen, it was so close to what I had pictured in my mind when I was reading it.
It’s about trying to find a normal life
The reason I like this movie and book is because the stereotypical “we’re free but, we need to overcome . . . There we did it, let’s live happily ever after, la la la la!,” doesn’t fit. ‘Beloved’ is more about individual struggles, relationships and trying to find a normal life. I know some of you don’t care about that, but that’s what I believe makes a movie good and real.
Yeah, I know this sounds very ho-hum, but trust me, there are plenty of scenes in this movie that make the R-rating understandable besides the one I already described. Another example is when they flash back to Sweet Home. They show all the slaves gagged, bloody, and tied-up. Now if that’s not graphic and eye opening, I really don’t know what is!
Conclusion: technical movie stuff (scenes to cut out, Oprah/Glover good, Thandie Newton good too).”