If you didn't take the time this weekend to check out Tyler Perry's newest production, For Colored Girls, you most definitely need to be making plans to do so SOON AND VERY SOON! According to The Internet Movie Database the movie ranked number 3 this weekend and brought in $20,100,000, it was written surrounding poems from the book For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf. Saturday morning I attended an event called "Breakfast and a Movie" hosted by C Jay Risque. At 8:30 a.m. a group of women (and 2 males) gathered to have breakfast in a theater prior to viewing the movie. As we all got acquainted we shared our thoughts about what Tyler Perry would do with this film. While I knew that this would possibly be one of his best productions yet, I don't think ANY of us were prepared for what we saw.
PLEASE READ: If you haven't seen the movie and/or do not want to know details, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW. This is a discussion post and will include spoilers.
Check MORE DISH to read my take on the film (SPOILERS, SPOILIERS, SPOILERS)
First let me say that I have NEVER been in a movie theater and heard as many sobs and sniffling as I did while watching For Colored Girls. I loved the way he actually incorporated the poems from the book into the movie. This was most definitely the "realist ish he ever wrote" (Jeezy voice). Tyler not only went there with the film, he went beyond what I ever imagined he would. The film touched on SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many things that we, as black women have to deal with... rape, incest, promiscuity, and more. Yes, I understand that these issues are universal, but...this was for us, by us, and of us, so that's how this review will be written. Every woman in the film dealt with something that was real and hit home with someone. Let's talk about each woman individually.
Let's start with my absolute favorite character of the movie, Ms. Gilda. Ms. Gilda was played by the lovely and talented Phylicia Rashad. Mannnnnnnnn, if Tyler didn't pick the perfect person for this role I'll pay ya. As the apartment manager, Ms. Gilda knew a lot of what happened in the building. Her presence in the movie was beautiful. She had one of the strongest, yet most simple lines in the movie. She told Kimberly Elise's character to "accept responsibility for your part in this." Although we can not change the actions of others, we most definitely have to hold ourselves accountable for our actions and what we allow to happen to us. I'll talk more about Ms. Gilda when mentioning the other characters.
Loretta Devine played the role of Juanita/Green. Although Juanita dealt with the least serious situation of the women, it's still a real issue within our community. As a nurse, she spoke with women about the importance of practicing safe sex. She was involved with a man that was basically using her. He would come and go (literally) from her home and their relationship whenever he pleased. She spoke of how if we're not careful, women can allow a man to walk away with ALL OF OUR STUFF! Stuff as in our heart, our joy, our sorrow.. she said dude almost walked away with the scare on her arm, hmph. It's hard being a woman and giving our love to someone that doesn't reciprocate. Naturally, we love hard and unfortunately sometimes a hard love can make a soft azz.
Whoopi Goldberg played Alice/White. This woman HERE was crazy, scary and somebody should've called Child Protective Services on that azz. She was the mother of two of the characters (Thandie/Tangie and Tessa/Nyla) and involved in some sort of religious group. I'm not gonna go all into the religious situation because that wasn't her biggest issue. Alice was clearly crazy as hell because of the incestuous relationship between she and her father. Her father not only molested her, but eventually gave her to a Caucasian man so that she would bear children that weren't ugly like he had continuously told her she was. She had two daughters by this man and her father then molested the eldest daughter. This film showed that the actions of one sick person can possibly destroy generations of people.
Tessa Thompson played Nyla/Purple. Nyla was a teenage girl that upon graduation found out that she was pregnant after her first sexual encounter (aint that some mess, SMH). She was the daughter of Alice and was naturally scared to admit that she was pregnant to her mother, and her mom's mental illness and religious beliefs didn't make it any easier to talk to her. Nyla was a dancer and headed to college but knew it would be difficult to do so with a child. Since neither Nyla or her mother could come up with the money for an abortion (she lied to her mother about what the money was for), Nyla went to an alley doctor to have her pregnancy terminated. You already know how this goes, right? Nyla didn't simply abort a child, she almost killed herself in the process. I know how hard it is being a teenager and I know that it's hard to believe that adults understand what you're going through. However, since I've become an adult that "been there, done that" saying means SO much more to me. It's important to know that there is always someone you can go to. Please let's not jump on a filty table and get an abortion with garden tools sterilized in liquor and mint leaves. Please and thank you.
Thandie Newton played Tangie/Orange. It's like I knew her character personally, I've seen people behave like this one too many times. Being born from an evil situation and into more evil, she was forced to find some way to get love. Her mother was a mentally ill, religious nut and her grandfather sexually abused her. She thought that she would find love in random men. Her character was beyond promiscuous and didn't seem to have any friends. It seems as though she didn't feel like she was worthy of being loved. What shocked me most about her story was the situation with her sister (Nyla) and her abortion. Tangie was the one that told her younger sister about the alley doctor and where to go to have this done. After Nyla was hospitalized and her mother Alice found out what happened she went to Tangie's apartment. Alice was actually angry with Tangie for sending Nyla there, BUT ONLY because she sent her alone. Alice (the mother) had taken Tangie to that same alley doctor when she was 16. Alice felt it was okay that Tangie had gone there simply because she went with her. It's crazy how nobody steps in to help these children when they are being raised by people who are clearly incapable of being a parent.
Anika Noni Rose played Yasmine/Yellow. This character's story was extremely scary for me cuz it made me think that I could have been in that situation on several occasions. Yasmine was a dance teacher, very sweet, reserved, conservative and trusting. She met a guy that seemed extremely nice and after 2 weeks of declining his offers to take her to dinner, she finally agreed. The two had dinner at a restaurant and after walking her home he got her to agree to cook dinner at her home on their next date. This guy sent flowers after their date and was an all out gentleman, this caused Yasmine to take her guards down. When the guy came over to her home, he raped her. She was not dressed provocatively, she was not leading him on, she simply wanted to have dinner with a friend. As she spoke with the police about what happened, the poem she recited mentioned that he was there "by invitation." That's so very scary to me!! Rapist aren't just people snatching you up on the streets anymore, they are people you trust, people you invite into your home. He showed us that you don't have to "put yourself in a situation" to be taken advantage of, it can happen to anyone.
Kerry Washington played Kelly/Blue. Her character was a married social worker that was having problems conceiving. Her character seemed to be very sweet and reserved. As a social worker, she had to encounter individuals on a daily basis that were possibly harming children, yet, she wanted one so badly and was unable to have one. Her character recited a poem explaining how she ended up with a condition that prevented her from conceiving. In the poem she spoke of how she and her friends met a handsome man that all of them thought was attractive and charming. She considered herself the lucky one because she ended up with him. She eventually found out that he was cheating on her and broke up with him. 8 months later she found out she had contracted an STD from him, she got it treated but it left her unable to have children. People often think that STD's are caused by promiscuity, this character showed that this is not always the case. It's possible to contract something after having only one sex partner, the bottom line is this... Keep your glory to yourself and if you find somebody that you feel is really worthy of sharing in your glory, WRAP IT UP!!
Janet Jackson played the role of the shitty sharp Jo/Red. Sorry, but that heffa was SHARP the entire daggone movie, whew. Anyways, she played a professional woman with boocoos of money and a DL husband (who happened to be down right gawgous). She was extremely mean and I gathered that she behaved this way because she couldn't control what was going on within her own home. Jo loved her husband and although she noticed how he would look at men when they walked by, she ignored it and "loved him on purpose." Loving a man that she suspected as being gay, "on purpose", caused her to contract the HIV virus. I felt bad for her character, yet I couldn't help but wonder why a person would continue to have sex with her husband if she questioned his sexuality and his commitment to her! Well, it's like I said above. You don't have to be promiscuous to contract these diseases. We might not want to admit it, but these diseases can come from love just as quickly as they can come from a one night stand.
I wanted to save Kimberly Elise's character for last cuz it was the hardest to deal with. Kimberly played Crystal/Brown. Crystal was a mother of two, a little boy and a little girl and involved with Beau Willie (Michael Ealy), a military veteran. Although Beau and Crystal were not married, they lived together next door to Ms. Gilda. Beau not only laid the smack down on Crystal, but he also abused thier two young children. Beau was a drunk and it was clear that Crystal was not capable of protecting herself or her children. Being that Ms. Gilda could hear everything through the walls, she knew what was going on within their home and called Child Protective Services. While Beau was drunk, he and Crystal had an incident that caused him to beat her then he began to question rather or not the two children were his. This is the part of the movie that took me by surprise. Beau grabbed the children and held them out of their 5th story apartment window by their arms. I (along with others) thought that he would have pulled them back in. The writer knew we would expect that and did just the opposite, dropped the babies and killed them. Crystal tried to kill herself but was unsuccessful, she questioned Ms. Gilda and asked her "how could he do this?" I was SO HAPPY when Ms. Gilda told her that he didn't do it alone. Since she wasn't the one that that killed them, she didn't feel responsible. The responsibility of a mother is to protect and provide for her child, she let the protection slip. I understand that getting out of a relationship is hard but I bet it's not as hard as that pavement those babies got dropped on. GET THE HELL OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!
Okay, well that's all the girls/colors and their stories. I absolutely LOVED the movie, on a scale of 1-10, I give it a 10+. The way he incorporated the poems was amazing. He did not give us a normal Tyler Perry production, he took us beyond that. When he dropped those babies, I almost jumped out of my seat but I was SO GLAD HE DROPPED THEM. I would have loved to see him pull the babies back in, but the fact of the matter is these mfs are really out here dropping babies, rapping babies, abusing babies and some more. This madness is real and it needs to be shown. This movie is Oscar worthy and I'm gonna be mad as hell if they don't get one. Whoever did the casting did their job perfectly. Every woman connected with her role and performed extremely well. If you haven't seen the movie please do so. I wouldn't advise you to take young children, but it's a definite must see. While this movie was full of horrible situations, I still left feeling proud. Through all of the things they went through, they were all still standing at the end. After seeing this movie Saturday then watching "Black Girls Rock" last night, I'm starting the week prouder than ever to be a strong black woman!
I have to support Tyler and the cast by purchasing the movie on DVD when it comes out. I'm either gonna throw it away, or maybe I'll give it away on here because although I loved it... it's was rough and I'm not sure I can watch that again LOL. If you saw the movie please comment and tell me what you thought about it and what you took from it. I've heard mixed reviews about it so I'm interested to see what my readers thought about it. Thanks for reading!!
Oh AND.. I just wanted to mention that I believe the only reason this movie didn't hit at number one is because it was not shown in as many theaters as the movies that hit number 1 and 2. But that's just my opinion.
