When it came time to decide what to watch this weekend, the only new release I noticed was Night Swim.  It is a horror film, and if you have read many reviews from The Legionnaire, you will know that this is among my least favorite film genres.  I stared at the showtimes for a while, looking at the hour at which they start, and dreading the decision that I was about to make.  Finally, I felt I could not do it.  Yet, what could be the alternative?  Luckily, there are a number of recent releases to catch up on to which I could pivot.  This, too, involved some compromise on my part.  Last weekend, I saw The Boys in the Boat (2023), and I stand by that decision.  Yet, that meant missing out on The Color Purple (2023).  Perhaps I should feel some chagrin over the fact that I did not see the 1985 original.  As I understand it, that one is not a musical.  The recent version is, and I will admit this influenced my decision a week ago.  Anyway, with all due respect to Night Swim, I am glad I opted to see something of cultural significance with The Color Purple.  By the way, as I am trying out a new post day for theatrical viewings, please note that there will be spoilers.

I was happy with the decision to see The Color Purple from the moment it began.  Sisters Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and Nettie Harris (Halle Bailey) are headed to church, praising God with a joyous noise.  Amen.  However, there are issues.  While they clearly have a close bond, it is Celie that gets the worst of the treatment from their domineering father, Alfonso Harris (Deon Cole).  Alfonso beats Celie, and it appears that he has sexually assaulted her, fathering two children with her.  He forces her to give up a daughter and a son.  This is only the beginning of Celie’s troubles.  One day while walking home from school, Nettie is approached by Albert “Mister” Johnson (Colman Domingo), who is interested in taking her as his wife.  He appeals to Alfonso, who informs Mister that Nettie is destined for other things.  Instead, Alfonso offers Celie, listing off her qualities as if she is a draft animal.  Mister reluctantly agrees, forcing her to walk behind his horse as he leads her to his home.  The house she enters has three unruly kids already, and is in a disheveled state.  Mister expects Celie to cook, clean, look after his children, and if she does not do everything to his unclear standards, he beats her.  Things get a temporary boost when Nettie arrives, she having escaped Alfonso when he makes inappropriate advances on her.  Albert agrees to let her stay, but on the first night, he tries to force himself on her.  When she defends herself, he grabs his shotgun, throws her stuff out of the house, and demands that she leave.  Celie looks on in shock, unable to do anything.  As Nettie flees, she promises to write every day.  Years go by, and Celie, now grown up (Fantasia Barrino), has not heard from Nettie since the day her sister left.  Instead, she has been subjected to more of the same cruel treatment.  It is at this time that we meet Sofia (Danielle Brooks).  She arrives at the house with Harpo Johnson (Corey Hawkins), Mister’s son, and she is carrying Harpo’s child.  Sofia is a proud woman, not to be trifled with, and the kind of person that Mister does not like.  Thus, he does not give consent for his son to be with her.  Because Sofia is not one to be denied, she makes Harpo, with whom she is genuinely in love, to begin building a house for them to live in nearby.  What Sofia also is not is demure, like Celie, who is the only kind of female Harpo has really experienced. Though Celie and Sofia become friends, when Sofia does not cow to Harpo, Celie suggests Harpo be physical with his wife.  This causes Sofia to leave Harpo, but not before asking Celie why she would recommend such a course of action. Celie says it is because of Sofia’s independent spirit.  Speaking of independent, the next person to come into town is the local celebrity, the singer Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson).  This is a woman that Mister actually respects, and does not hide the fact that he wishes he had married her instead of Celie.  She even comes to stay at their house, and Mister flaunts his affection for Shug.  Instead, it is Celie and Shug who form a connection, and one that this Catholic believes is perhaps a little too intimate, but I will leave that issue alone.  In any case, Shug tells Celie that the normally shy wife should stand up to her domineering husband.  This is given some merit when they discover that Mister has been hiding letters from Nettie all these years.  After Nettie ran away, she was taken in by Christian missionaries who went to Africa to preach the Word.  She has been there since with Celie’s two children, who had been adopted by the missionary family.  Despite these moments of empowerment, Celie cannot bring herself to leave Mister.  It takes a return visit by Shug, who announces over a meal at the house that she is taking Celie with her, for Celie to finally back her bags.  She stays with Shug for a time in her home in Memphis, Tennessee, until one day she gets a call informing her that Alfonso has passed away.  She comes back for the funeral, and after the service she learns that the store he used to run had been left to her and her sister, the result of Alfonso not being their real father.  Thus, Celie decides to turn it into a clothing boutique, a talent she had nurtured her entire life.  As for Mister, his life since Celie left has been rough, which he realizes after waking up from passing out drunk in a field.  In trying to make amends, he sells some of his land in order to pay for Nettie and Celie’s children and grandchildren to repatriate to the United States.  We close with them all tearfully reuniting at an Easter meal hosted by Celie.

Normally, I save my third paragraph of reviews for theatrical releases for talking about some technical aspect of the film.  I am not going to do that with The Color Purple.  I mean, the film begins with them going to church, and ends on Easter.  That is music (pun intended) to this Catholic’s ears.  Besides, the film is so rich in theological themes that I am going to dedicate two sections to exploring them.  Perhaps the richest of these topics to cover is a fact about God that is explicitly stated early on in the film: God works in mysterious ways.  For some, this can sound, at best, like a catch-all for anything we experience in life or, at worst, a cop out.  For Celie, for much of her life this seems like the latter of these two points of view.  A question she asks herself throughout the years is why God took her children from her.  It is not helped by Alfonso, who, as he snatches the baby from her arms, says that she is giving him to God.  This turns out to be quite literal as they end up as the foster children of the missionaries.  The cynic would then look at Nettie also ending up with the same family as a convenient excuse for seeing God’s providence.  The former of these perspectives is easier to explain, and the movie does well in this regard.  In Celie explaining the awfulness of her life to Shug, including the aforementioned question, Shug responds by saying that is not God’s doing.  That is the work of men, deeply flawed men.  God wants for our happiness, but the evil designs in people’s hearts sometimes makes this more difficult to experience.  As for those who might think the mystery of God’s work is, to put it in cinematic terms, a convenient plot device, I would say that they clearly have a lack of faith.  The perfect counter comes from Celie.  Faith is something we feel deep down in our souls.  For her, even though she is not getting any updates from Nettie, Celie knows inside her that she will see her sister once more.  The Christian parallel to this is the belief that we will one day be rewarded by encountering Jesus in Heaven.

The second Christian virtue to discuss in The Color Purple is forgiveness.  Here, again, we have a vast subject with many examples from the film from which to choose.  Before continuing, it should be noted that while the movie exactly coincides with Christian teaching on the matter, it is also something that does not look the same in every instance.  We can look at Harpo and Sofia.  After she leaves, he takes up with another woman, Mary “Squeak” Agnes (Gabriella “H.E.R.” Wilson).  Though he apparently moves on, there are still some lingering feelings for Sofia.  One night, Sofia comes to Harpo’s juke joint with her new husband, and a fight breaks out between Mary and Sofia, started because Harpo decides to have a dance with Sofia.  It is clear that Harpo does not respect Mary like he does Sofia, underscored by his insistence on calling his new wife “Squeak” against her wishes.  Thus, Mary leaves with Celie and Shug when Shug comes to collect Celie.  Still, by the end of the movie, they are all able to be friends once more.  Nonetheless, the best instance of this is what takes place between Celie and Mister.  He has spent a lifetime not just emotionally and physically abusing her, but taking her for granted.  It is only after years have passed, and he is laid low by circumstances, that he understands his sin.  When we Catholics go to Confession, we are given penance to make atonement for our mistakes.  Mister does this for Celie.  In each case, it completes the process of forgiveness.  You can forgive someone, though it does not always lead to reconciliation.  This film shows that to achieve that goal, you need two people willing to put aside their differences.  That is something, it also seems to suggest, that can only come from God.

My biggest take away from The Color Purple is that there is so much beauty in God.  This is demonstrated in the main plot and all the subplots on which I did not touch in order to keep the length of this review somewhat manageable.  It is also directly said in the film.  We all need more of this in our lives, particularly when dealing with trauma, which is why I wholeheartedly recommend this movie.