The Color Purple (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD

The award-winning drama about a black woman's struggles to take control of her life in a small Southern town in the early 20th century, based on Alice Walker's novel. Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey head an impressive cast, under the direction of Steven Spielberg. 152 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1; documentaries; interviews; theatrical trailers; more. Two-disc set.
Steven Spielberg, proving he's one of the few modern filmmakers who has the visual fluency to be capable of making a great silent film, took a melodramatic, D.W. Griffith-inspired approach to filming Alice Walker's novel. His tactics made the film controversial, but also a popular hit. You can argue with the appropriateness of Spielberg's decision, but his astonishing facility with images is undeniable--from the exhilarating and eye-popping opening shots of children playing in paradisiacal purple fields to the way he conveys the brutality of a rape by showing hanging leather belts banging against the head of the shaking bed. In a way it's a shame that Whoopi Goldberg, a stage monologist who made her screen debut in this movie, went on to become so famous, because it was, in part, her unfamiliarity that made her understated performance as Celie so effective. (This may be the first and last time that the adjective understated can be applied to Goldberg.) Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture and actress (supporting players Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery were also nominated), it was quite a scandal--and a crushing blow to Spielberg--when it won none. --Jim Emerson