Rating: 
Summary: Amazing, and amazingly underappreciated
Review: After seeing this movie in the theatre, I didn't want to leave. I didn't even want to talk to the friends I had seen it with - I just wanted to stay in my seat and savor that rare feeling one gets when a movie is so powerful that it changes something inside you. And I especially didn't want to hear the conversation that the couple behind me was having: "Well, that was... long" "Yeah, someone should find the editor and shoot him". Unfortunately, a lot of people seemed to share these opinions. Even more unfortunately, I think many people never saw the movie because they heard comments like those expressed by that couple in the theatre. And I know by reading a few other reviews here that I was not the only one moved by this film. So if you hesitated because of what you heard, give this movie another chance. As long as you do not need things resolved within a 2 hour time limit, appreciate films that are not completely straightforward, and can deal with characters who are not one-dimensional, I think you will find it rewarding. If you thought Independence Day was the pinnacle of filmmaking, well, maybe you should stay away.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeless Story...... Timely Film .......
Review: Toni Morrison's novel about a woman's emotional, physical, sexual, and maternal struggles through the slavery of the late 19th century is one that should not be ignored-- it should be read. I applaud Oprah Winfrey for bringing this text to film. Few films, however, live up to the richness of a literary text-- particulary one as rich as Morrison's. The film is good; it is interesting; it has good acting (Danny Glover is wonderful as Paul D); it is just amazingly difficult to divorce the larger-than-life persona of OPRAH WINFREY from the character of Sethe. Had another actress portrayed Sethe in the film, it might have been an even more powerful presentation. Overall the film is good; it just cold have been better.
Rating: 
Summary: From Literary Masterpiece to Cinematic Disaster
Review: Well, I knew what to expect when Oprah spoke so highly of this film to her dumpy, white, mostly-female Chicago audience--as though she felt she had to push these mushy images on the American public. I've been teaching Morrison's novel for years--but this film, in many ways, outraged me. Where to start? With Winfrey's portrayal of Sethe? She does all right; when Winfrey played Sophia in "The Color Purple," she was almost an unknown. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" had not become the cultural landmark it is today. Winfrey, as Sethe, just gets in the way--no matter how much like a former Ohio slave she was made to look, one is still looking at Oprah as Sethe and not at Morrison's brilliant literary character. Bea Richards was okay as Baby Suggs, Sethe's mother-in-law--in terms of what this film allows her to do. Baby Suggs is a central character of the novel--a Morrisonian archetype--but the film makes her so peripheral. Danny Glover is satisfactory as Morrison's hero, Paul D, but didn't we get enough of him as Mister in "The Color Purple"? There are many talented actors today who could've done justice to the role of Paul D? Thandie Newton as the child returned as a ghost is okay, but far too facially angelic to be the Beloved I've pictured. And who told her to squak and croak in that voice? Yes, we get it; she's really two years old, the age she was when her mother, Sethe, killed her. The only redeeming portrayal in this film comes from Kimberly Elise, who plays Morrison's alive and scorned daughter, Denver. Elise is everything the daughter Denver is supposed to be: wounded, afraid, longing, and, ultimately, in small small steps (she finally goes out of the yard) victorious. Richard La Gravanese (creator of the very lovely "Living Out Loud"--available from amazon.com--with Holly Hunter and Danny DeVito) had no business writing this adaptation. Too many of Morrison's crucial nuanaces were deleted or ignored all together. And why Jonathan Demme was given reign over a film that could have been so important--really a highwater mark of American filmmaking--and so everlasting is beyond me. Oprah really blew it big time with that choice. The cinematography is quite stunning and very beautiful. The Ohio seasons are captured quite beautifully. The soundtrack is also dynamic and stirring--far better than most of the major performances which are bumbling and idiotic. The angelic voices of a choir rise up from Africa and post Civil War America. Overall, the flat and insipid performances create the opposite of the world Morrison so brilliantly created during that five year period of writing this masterpiece. The film is unspiteful, un-loud and, ultimately, very very quiet. It may remain with you after your viewing--but it's not saying anything as profound as Toni Morrison--a literary genius--did.
Rating:
Summary: Love your hands, love your heart
Review: This movie is not for the faint of heart. Graphic at times, the characters do a wonderful job of conveying the pain of slavery and the post Civil War era. Baby Suggs brought tears to my eyes with her preaching! She tries to teach her people to love themselves again. It's about "laying it all down", trying to forget the pain and go on living. Ophrah does a great job of showing that being free doesn't always mean that your mind is free, as the ghost-child illustrates. Sethe's guilt is so strong it threatens to destroy her and those she loves. Can she overcome it? Watch the video!
Rating:
Summary: It May Take 20 Years...
Review: It may take a decade or two for this film to get the universal accolades it most certainly deserves, but they will come. Demme and Oprah Winfrey have created a spectacle of startling brilliance with this masterwork, a celluloid dagger that has been burned red-hot, and which will penetrate through to the astute viewer's very soul. To say that this film is disturbing is an understatement, and this is, no doubt, why many people chose to distance themselves from it. Another reason is its brilliant complexity and sophistication, its kinetic honesty. The spiritual power invested in this film is enough to give shivers for many reasons. I truly believe that many people expected Oprah to take Morrison's haunting book and sanitize it, homogenize it for the screen. She has not done so, and the realm of cinema is richer for it. This film is a jewel to be savored, a jewel that has the power to destroy but ultimately redeem. The performances speak for themselves...from everyone in the cast. That this film was neglected by the Academy is proof of the emptiness and lack of viewing skill prevalent even in the industry's powers-that-be. This film haunts like no other, and I guarantee it will one day be regarded as one of the classics of 20th Century cinematic history.
Rating:
Summary: The Most passionate, and tender movie made in the 90's
Review: This film deserves so much more credit than it has received. Words cannot describe the intense amounts of emotion and dedication the film-makers had when they did this. This movie has all of the beauty, and power that every great film displays. The movie is about a former slave named Seth and the struggles her family has to endure. The ghost of her slain daughter haunts the house, and her surviving daughter has become a recluse. She breaks down crying when she tells her mother that she has no friends because of that house. Seth is determined to hold her ground. She'll never run from anything as long as she lives. An old friend from Sweet Home named Paul D finds Seth after years of walking, they begin a romantic relationship and everything seems to be going the way things should. The ghost leaves, and Paul D treats Seth right. Enter Beloved, a young woman they find half dead next to their house. She speaks as though she has never had the strength to use her voice. Time passes along and Beloved begins to become attatched to Seth. As if she was looking for a mother figure in her life. This is a threat to Paul D who feels he doesn't belong anymore. The rest of the film unfolds bueatifully and the horrible secrets are uncovered to find the truth. The acting is so superb and authentic, you feel as though the actors actully embodied these characters from the page. The directing is magnificent. Jonathan Demme lets the story take its time, giving the characters time to become familiar with the audiance. The plot thickens and twists so deeply, and the viewer becomes entranced by the tragedy. The music is great and the cinematography is jaw-dropping. The movie is so brilliantly colorful. Let the movie hypnotize you in its brilliance. Movies of this magnitude are rare, and very unique. This is the best movie of the 90's. Its powerful, horrifying, and undeniably original.
Rating:
Summary: A New Kind of Film
Review: Watching "Beloved" was such a visceral experience, that I am sure many people won't be able to digest it. But it is their loss, because it is a film of such brilliance, that it stands out as one of the truly great cinematic achievements of recent memory. The performances are top notch, starting with one of my favorite actresses Thandie Newton in the title role. Her performance is one of such raw power, that I was amazed at it. Nothing she's done previously to this (and she's done some terrific work) could have prepared me for this. But it is an ensemble piece, and every single performer is at the top of their game. Kimberly Elise makes a strong impression as Denver. Her eyes, full of pain and longing, will haunt me forever. Danny Glover in the role of Paul D its every right note with his thoughtful deliveries. Ms. Winfrey's most astonishing achievement is that she lets the audience forget about her television persona. Not only that, she completely inhabits the role of Sethe, a woman of power, determination, and ultimately too human. However, my highest praise goes out to Beah Richards in the role of Baby Suggs. Standing tall atop a tree trunk, with that beautiful face full of history, every single word she uttered went right into my heart. This is an amazing cinematic experience.
Rating:
Summary: Be patient
Review: In the buzz of Oprah's long-awaited return to the screen & mean-spirited book club backlash, the meaning of this film was lost. Demme's 'Beloved' contains some of the finest acting of the year (ultimately snubbed at the Oscars)--including Kimberly Elsie's subtle & affecting portrait of Denver. Although, at times, it swerves off-course in melodramatic directions, 'Beloved' is one of the boldest films in years, both worthy & admirable.
Rating:
Summary: strange movie
Review: i knew this movie would be weird and kinda boring when i was about to watch it.not too boring to sit through,okay movie to watch.mostly about slavery and all that stuff
Rating:
Summary: Not the Novel to Adapt
Review: This is probably the strictest adaptation of a novel I have ever seen on screen. Yet, as much as I loved the book, this film comes close to failure for a very simple reason. The Toni Morrison novel tells a story that works very well within the art of literature. The arch of climax of the book is not a narrative one but a lyrical and literary one. Demme and Winfrey chose to tell the story in the exact same order which Morrison chose but in a film this sequence is very unfulfilling and seems to just drift and stop. While the performances were fine (except for Newton's bizarre choices for Beloved) and the film is superbly shot and scored, this problem could have only been fixed by not adapting this novel or twisting it into a different order. I have a suspicion that Oprah (as producer and approver of the script) is to blame, being too loyal to the novel and not considering what is best for drama.
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