BELOVED (Touchstone) Directed by Jonathan Demme
A film adaptation of a novel that's won both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes -- as well as a devoted following worldwide -- would seem to be a project fraught with potential pitfalls, especially when that novel is Toni Morrison's "Beloved," a non-linear chronicle of the lives of former slaves in post-Civil War Ohio. But producer-actress Oprah Winfrey refused to let naysayers dissuade her from pursuing her dream of putting the book on the screen, and, when these skeptics take a look at the movie Winfrey and director Jonathan Demme ("Silence of the Lambs") have created, chances are they will eat their words.
An intense, often impressionistic picture about the price of freedom "Beloved" represents a personal triumph for its star, whose performance in the role of Sethe, the runaway servant who is literally haunted by her past, ensures Winfrey will never again be thought of as just a talk show hostess.
Sethe is a woman who would rather share her home with a ghost than move on; after fleeing north with her children, Sethe insists, "I will never run from another thing on this earth." As Winfrey journeys through the dark caverns of Sethe's soul, you can almost see the grief seeping out of her every pore. It's not a showy, let's-win-an-Oscar star turn, but a quiet, devestating piece of character work.
Demme, following Winfrey's lead, does not attempt to simplify or launder Morrison's tale, a la Steven Spielberg's widely criticized take on Alice Walker's "The Color Purple." From "Beloved"'s first scene, in which an angry spirit shakes Sethe's house and hurls her dog against a wall, this is a demanding, unsettling picture full of savage violence and deep-seated misery. Even when Sethe finds some degree of comfort in the arms of old friend Paul D (Danny Glover), a fellow escapee from "Sweethome," the sight of their broken, scarred bodies coming together is heartbreaking rather than erotic.
Glover's work as Paul D reminds us once again what a powerful actor he can be when he's not wasting his talents on tripe like "Lethal Weapon 4," and as Sethe's "charmed child" Denver, Kimberly Elise is outstanding.
Like most of Demme's movies, this one benefits enormously from the photography of Tak Fujimoto, whose smooth style calls attention to the drama rather than the cameraman's artistry. "Beloved"'s often fragmented, jarring flashback sequences have been shot on washed-out stock that gives them an appropriately unreal look.
Not all of Demme's risk-taking pays off, though. Particularly detrimental to the film is Thandie Newton in the title role, as a mystery woman who emerges from the river and takes up residence under Sethe's roof. If Winfrey's acting is refreshingly free of technique, Newton's is crawling with it, and her studied, almost goofy mannerisms (big eyes, a twisted jaw, etc.) go a long way toward diluting the vivid atmosphere Demme and Winfrey have taken such pains to create. In defense of Newton however, the ethereal Beloved may be an unplayable part; any actress would have been perplexed by this character who is alternately sprite and succubus, child-woman and madwoman.
If "Beloved" sometimes fails to deliver the emotional wallop the audience expects, it's because Demme and his cast aren't interested in easy tear-jerking. They're out to create a genuinely cathartic experience, and more often than not, they succeed; when "Beloved" does connect, it does so with the force of a sledgehammer to the heart. James Sanford
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