since most movies about slavery shield us from the true horrors of what they’re portraying , it’s fitting to say that ” beloved ” come as a real shock as a film .
it’s confusing , bizarre , and as tough a film to watch as any film i’ve seen all year , and that’s not necessarily because of the three-hour running time .
” beloved ” is challenging to watch , filled with tough and powerful poetry that takes us completely off guard , and instead of a straight-forward , hollywood-ized story about what happened to the slaves after they were freed , ” beloved ” comes off as a cry of anguish from all those who actually lived through what happened ( or , rather , toni morrison , who wrote the novel upon which this is based ) .
” beloved ” tells the story of an ex-slave named sethe , played by oprah winfrey , who lives on a large farm in the north with her children .
when the film opens , her house is being terrorized by a poltergeist , which shakes things up , wounds the dog , and makes things generally uncomfortable for the family .
sethe is proud , though , and will not move .
her sons run away , leaving only her and her daughter , denver ( kimberly elise ) alone with the ghost which is there without any factual explanation .
a couple years pass , and the ghost remains , and one day , a man named paul d ( danny glover ) , another ex-slave who knew sethe years ago when they worked on a plantation together , arrives , asking for lodging .
he has been wandering around since he left the plantation , and when he enters the house , it turns red and becomes incredibly hot .
when he remarks about what he thinks is evil , sethe replies ” it ain’t evil .
it’s just sad . ”
some more time passes , and paul d has become a fervent member of the household , and the ghost disappears .
but when they return one day from going out , they discover a young woman sitting in the house .
her name is beloved , and as played by thandie newton , she has almost zero motor skills .
she stumbles around , half-grabbing onto things and knocking them over , and when she speaks , she lets out a low guttural sound that eventually turns into baby talk .
they let her into her house , and she begins to turn things upside down .
” beloved ” acts like an incredibly difficult chamber drama paired with a ghost story .
most of the scenes consist of people arguing in one claustrophobic , low-lit room , with the occasional flash to the past , where we see images of such horror that we thank god for modern-day psychoanalysts .
sethe and paul d have lived through such hellish times that they are forever implanted with the memories of their slavehood on the old plantation , which includes such images as sethe being raped by the white plantation hands , with her nipples being licked , prompting her to cry out to paul d when reminiscing about it , ” they took my milk ! ”
worst of all was the month after her freedom , when she was allowed to live like a free person , working with other blacks on a farm , and then seeing that her old plantation owners have arrived to presumedly take her and her children back .
she runs to the barn near by , carrying her four children , and when her old owners burst in , they discover she has murdered one of them and is ready to murder the rest of them if they don’t leave them alone .
when she is inquired about this moment by paul d in a moment halfway through the film , she says she doesn’t regret it .
she killed her daughter so that she would not have to live through the horror she did , and she has convinced herself she did the right thing .
of course , beloved is really her daugher materialized , though we aren’t flat out told that until later on in the film .
beloved represents the pain and suffering the slaves went through and shows how difficult it was for them to deal with their freedom after being tortured for so long .
thus , ” beloved ” becomes a sorta-redux of the andrei tarkofsky sci-fi classic , ” solaris , ” where a cosmonaut discovers that his wife , who commited suicide years before , has materialized when he is orbiting over a planet with a complex brain system .
that film spoke volumes about humanity and our memories , how we are constantly regretting what happened in the past , and when if it ever literally came back to haunt us , it would control us completely .
” beloved ” moves along freely , without a lot of explanation , and for the most part , this is extremely respectable .
the most interesting films are the ones that don’t explain everything for us , leaving gaps in the characters that we are supposed to fill in with how they act in the present tense .
sethe is never fully explained as a character , but we understand all her actions since she’s being played by oprah winfrey .
it’s been well over a decade since her last major performance in ” the color purple , ” but judging from these two films , i’ll bet she’s one of the best actresses working today . . . if
she was strictly an actress .
her talk show , which i suppose is a great entity , has prevented her from becoming a noteworthy actress , and that’s a shame because she brings so much to this movie .
emotion .
sadness .
strength .
watching the strong sethe , who’s so afraid of the past that she’s built a rather strong protective coating around herself , break down when she discovers who beloved really is is what makes this movie really great .
she makes it real .
that’s not to say this is a perfect film .
in fact , i’d wager to say that the fact that it’s confusing and painful to watch is what prevents this from being the truly great film it is .
while oprah’s performance is powerful and easily sympathetic ( and i’m dying to see her win at least an oscar nomination this february ) , the structure of the film , which doesn’t show what happened to her children till halfway through the film , prevents us from really making a cohesive connection to the film .
it doesn’t necessarily move as though they’re memories of one particular character , and by the end , it has lost control over sethe , and as she takes to bed , we are unable to truly identify with her anymore .
but despite its tediousness , perhaps that’s the point .
the distancing by the end of the film may be just part of the way it has been built from the start , since they figure she has crossed over from being identifiable , and it needs to get back with reality .
and for the most part , this film seems like the cry of pain from the slaves that it really wants to be .
jonathan demme’s direction is bizarre , in nature with the story , and he creates the right mood , making it a tough film to sit through , making sure that the audience feels as uncomfortable as the characters .
there’s more to admire here , like the way that the flashbacks pop up freely and without real organization , just like they would be in real life ; and the way that the ending leaves it somewhat open to more pain and suffering , but laced with a touch of optimism .
the acting , not only from winfrey , is amazing , and i anticipate not only she will get an oscar nomination .
everyone has been raving about thandie newton’s performance , and how it should be rewarded .
however , it must be noted that out of everyone , she had the easiest part .
act like a baby .
throw things .
stumble around .
chew food with your mouth open .
i do think there’s another performance worthy of oscar conisderation , but it’s kimberly elise , as the daugher who has to stay sensible and sane , and has to carry the burden of her mother’s loss of reality towards the end .
it’s not that newton isn’t great : she’s as annoying and wacky as the role demands .
it’s just that elise has the tougher job and pulls it off even better .
despite the fact that this film has winfrey written all over it , and not that of writer morrison or director demme , ” beloved ” has still not done well .
costing , i think , around ninety million dollars , it has since grossed about twenty-two .
unfortunately , this film is a little too intense for viewers , even for me , and i can stand almost anything ( i recently viewed the 2 1/2 hour long epic ” caligula , ” the worst film i have ever seen in my life , and did it in a mere 2 sittings ) .
although i respect ” beloved , ” i can’t say that i really enjoyed it .