Beloved

Rating:
Summary: Flawed but a Well Made Film.
Review: When a Hard Working Woman named Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) tries to forget about her Dark Abused Past. When she meets a Odd young Unsitable Woman (Thandie Newton) comes to live at her home with the family, the Husband-Paul (Danny Glover) and her daughter-Denver (Kimberly Elise) come to accept her. But as it turns out that the Odd young Woman behaving in Child-Like and Walking Awkwardly but Sethe becomes to know her well, there`s something in her past about this Strange Woman.

Directed by Oscar-Winner:Johathan Demme (Something Wild, The Silence of the Lambs, Phildelphia) made a intense drama, which is Well Acted but the Uneasy mixed with the Supernatural Theme might be a real letdown by Modern Audiences. The film is Stylish and Well Done. The Film's True High-Light is the Cinematography by Tak Fujimoto (The Sixth Sense). This is a Evociate Prose and Emotionally danse story but this is not for Everyone but Those who like the Critically Acclaimed Novel by Toni Morrison, will likely to Enjoy this Underrated Adapation of this Movie. Look Sharp for Actor:Wes Bentley (American Beauty). Charles Napier and Jason Robards appears Unbilled. Grade:B+.

Rating:
Summary: A difficult movie, but it will reward your patience.
Review: Leornard Maltin must be getting sour in his age; how else to explain his bitter review of "Beloved," one of the most underappreciated films of the 1990's? Oprah Winfrey plays a former slave, still reeling from her oppressive past and living in a home that's haunted by ghosts. She is later reunited with Beloved, the daughter she abandoned as a child, and...well, I can't reveal more. Winfrey gives a nuanced, heartfelt performance that stays with you long after the movie is finished. For all that it has to offer, the film does have its flaws: it's deliberately-paced and it drags in some areas, and, like the book from which it's based, it's also a tough movie to follow. But give the movie patience, and it will richly reward you.

Rating:
Summary: Read the book don't watch this movie
Review: I have read a lot of Toni Morrison's work and I can say it is a challenge to transform her unique poetic prose into film, so I can hardly blame Winfrey and Demme for failing with this story. But no one should be subjected to this unless they find enjoyment in seeing people being tortured. Why Oprah would choose a director whose claim to fame is "Silence of the Lambs" to direct this flick is a mystery to me. He misses the mark by a mile, fails to make the narrative happen in this movie. And don't get me started on drooling, retarded-acting Thandie Newtown, she was downright embarrassing to watch. She sounded like Darth Vader when she said her opening line. Kimberly Elise is the only one who knows and becomes her character. Note to Oprah, if you want to make a film on a Toni Morrison book next time try "Tar Baby"!

Rating:
Summary: Be-Love-d: A foreboding on ghosts without skin.
Review: Beloved will go down in history as not only one of the best films ever made, but also a powerful statement that resonates to this time period and institutionalized racism that white people and some blacks have enveloped. Furhtermore, shows how far back we really are that people cannot even go near the past truthfully until it swallows you up.

Rating:
Summary: To anyone who did not understand BELOVED.
Review: Unequivocally one of the best films ever made. I read BELOVED before I saw the movie and to everyone who said they "loved" the book but did not understand the film, you obviously did not understand what you were reading to begin with. Toni Morrison's talent is undeniable so you can save your praises. Oprah Winfrey read the book in one sitting and then called Toni Morrison about some parts she didnt understand and after Toni's explanation she said she was going to make it into a film. I think Oprah who read the book several times and people with common sense understand the metaphorical meanings that BELOVED represents. I think the main reason as to why BELOVED the film was not well received by the mainstream is because you have to have a heart in order to feel a heart. And too many individuals are callous and self-absorbed. After all, this is the country that enslaved millions of people, tortured them, tore thier families apart, stripped them of thier culture, raped and brutalized black women and men to this day. Furthermore, legalized slavery would still exist in this country but now its on a more insidious level that is just as if not more destructive. I believe Jonathan Demme wanted to direct BELOVED because he seems like a good person who did not let his society define him. I think people(especially of caucasian decent) allow themselves to read novels without ever being moved by them because its like they're disconnected but can enjoy the language of a writer yet at the same time not allow themselves to be moved by the subject matter to do something in relation to it. And that is true of film as well. But because movies are more blatant, when watching a movie such as BELOVED, the core of who you are, whoever that might be rises to the surface. I guess thats why Oprah kept saying that watching BELOVED is an experience. But most people and her main audience didnt care to see it anyway. But BELOVED'S premonition was that evil and ignorance would still persist from the PEOPLE WITHOUT SKIN.

Rating:
Summary: I'm confused
Review: I'm through about half of the book and I think that's the only way I had any idea what was going on. The movie left far too many loose ends before going on to something else. Considering it's length, I'd have thought it would've been at least a little bit more interesting, some parts were just irritatingly boring. I wouldn't call Beloved a bad movie, it's just not a good movie.

Rating:
Summary: A true disappointment
Review: I bought this DVD based on a handful of good reviews and the 2 great actors playing in it. Not having read the book, I can only say that the movie version was a true disappointment. Sometimes predictable, sometimes overly dramatized but definitely not entertaining or moving. There are dozens of great movies out there to buy and keep in your library, this is NOT one of them!

Rating:
Summary: beloved, beloved
Review: Beloved is one of the best films I have ever seen dealing with the controversial and often ignored issue of slavery. It is ignored because, as many critics have pointed out it is something both white and black people in the United States try very hard to forget. This probably explains why this film did not do that well on its theatrical release. In following Toni Morrison's novel very closely the film thoroughly succeeds as a literary adaptaion. The film has been criticised for being disjointed and incomprehensible however one cannot begin to imagine the suffering of slaves, and the total incomprehensibility of why this horrifying violence and abuse had to be carried on their shoulders. Slavery at the very least left slaves, even freed ones, psychologically scarred, bewildered, confused and lost from their culture and their families. One can hardly expect a film attempting to deal with these issues then to be straight forward. The perfromances are all excellent particularly from Winfrey and Glover but also from Elise and Newton. Newton in particular is superb at portraying a tormented incarnation of a baby ghost locked inside the body of an eighteen year old, trying to discover, who she is, how she can characterise herself without having known her mother, her family or why she was left behind. Her struggle is symbolic of all slaves, trying to find their identity as African-Americans in a country which, at that time did not even recognise them as people but as, one of the characters describes Sethe, animals. My only negative comment about the film is that it wasn't long enough to deal with the issues thoroughly but then no film ever has or can in regards to slavery. That is a minor complaint. See it and judge for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Home Haunted Home
Review: This story holds a deeper meaning. It is about something coming back to haunt us all. It is about sins that we commit that never really go away until we can learn to forgive ourselves and those who have offended us. It is about putting the pieces of the mirror of life together and looking deeply into it to see what is really in our souls.

Supernatural evil forces surrounding us can scare us in movies, but what should really frighten us is how we have treated people throughout time. How we have enslaved people in many ways and have treated them as less than human. This story echoes these thoughts.

This is a deeply moving film that must be given your full attention to understand the complexities. I was literally captivated: body, soul and spirit. I was glued to the couch, too scared to go anywhere. ;>

The opening scenes are very violent and shocking. If you didn't read the reviews you would really be wondering if you wanted to keep watching the movie as I did. However, they cleverly showed you only enough to make you terribly curious. What throws a dog against the wall? That is why I was watching to find out what the heck had just happened. It is like a puzzle and you have to pick up a piece here and there. For the mind that analyzes everything...this is a dream movie.

The story does not play out in a sequence of events as some stories do. It slips back into time, dragging out the horrific past and adding bits here and there to make you want to understand the entire story. I thought this was very cleverly done.

The basic story running on the first level is about Sethe's life. She is a slave who escapes from a cruel Kentucky plantation called: "Sweet Home." Paul D was also a slave and yet he seems to have more inner strength even though he has seen it all. Sethe is obviously very troubled from her experiences and is determined not to let her children experience the horrors of slavery. She and her family are living on a plot outside of Cincinnati, Ohio eight years after the end of the Civil War.

When slave hunters threaten to take her children back to the plantation, she kills one of her daughters.

She continues to live with her second daughter Denver after her two sons run away. The murdered child then haunts their shack with a red glow until she actually returns in bodily form. Reality and the supernatural are blended together to make this the most creepy movie you will ever see because the creepiness is so subtle it takes you off guard.

Oprah is incredible as an actress. Kimberley Elise (Denver) and Thandie Newton are incredible in their roles. I have never been so freaked out by anyone's facial expressions in my life. The things Thandie Newton can do with her face rival the best. Kimberley's eyes were at times almost ethereal. Danny Glover adds a much needed calm to the movie as he seems to be living in reality most of the time.

Perhaps this movie did not do well because it is more for those who are very patient and caters to a smaller audience with eclectic tastes. This is not really for the mainstream audience. I thought the movie was quite long. Some movies are best viewed at home when they are of this length. The setting in which you view a movie is often very important to your enjoyment.

Rare, vivid, provocative, authentic, intelligent, complex, artistic, strange, freaky, horrific, scary, emotional, beautiful, ugly, happy, sad, delirious, confusing, secretive, sometimes crude...but overall, great story telling.

Rating:
Summary: BELOVED IS THE BEST FILM EVER MADE
Review: Beloved is a true masterpiece. I saw it in the theater about four times because I was so profoundly moved by this film. It has some of the greatest performances in cinema history. Especially Thandie Newton, Oprah Winfrey, Kimberly Elise, Danny Glover, Beah Richards, and Lisa Gaye Hamilton. People's reaction to the film shows the level of ignorance, hatred, and sheer evil that still exists in this country. It is so offensive to me that the African Holocaust has been intentionally ignored because racist idiots contol the media and privileged white people dont want to see themselves for who they really are and where they come from. The response to Beloved is just a reflection on American society as a whole. Which seems to ignore truth, perpetuate evil and ignorance in all facets of life and continue to pass it down to thier children. Everyone involved with Beloved should recieve some sort of special recognition award for the blatant absence of Beloved at all the publicized award shows in 1999.
Beloved will remain just as truth always does.