Film review by Kevin Patterson
BELOVED Rating: **** (out of four) R, 1998 Director: Jonathan Demme Screenplay: Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravenese, Adam Brooks Starring Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise
Most films about slavery address the subject by immersing themselves in the America of the early to late 1800s, showing us first-hand the cruelty of the system and the cold-hearted selfishness of those who perpetuated its existence. While there's nothing wrong with this, it's always nice to see a fresh approach to the topic, and Jonathan Demme delivers that with his new film BELOVED, based (very faithfully, I'm told) on the Toni Morrison novel of the same name.
BELOVED stays away from Southern slave plantations for the most part, instead focusing on an African-American family living in rural Ohio in the 1870s. The mother Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) is an ex-slave who lives with her daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise), her two sons having left the house in fear eight years earlier. The house is haunted by the spirit of Sethe's youngest daughter, who apparently died as an infant. Into this setting wanders Paul D (Danny Glover), an old friend from the slave plantation who soon becomes Sethe's lover and who can help her fill in at least one important blank from her past. Adding to an already bizarre situation is the sudden appearance of Beloved (Thandie Newton), an apparently sick and traumatized young girl who mysteriously shows up in Sethe's backyard one afternoon and who seems to have lost her memory.
There isn't much of a plot per se in BELOVED. The film instead concentrates on the interactions between Sethe, Paul D, Beloved, and Denver. The screenwriters make a wise choice in withholding the whole picture from the audience, thus ensuring the viewers' interest as the characters are sketched out on-screen. Gradually, our questions are answered as to why Sethe's neighbors scorn her when the family goes to the local carnival, how the ghostly first daughter died, and how Sethe originally escaped from slavery, and why her husband isn't with her. The biggest engima is Beloved herself, who sometimes seems to be a pleasant-spirited, innocent young girl, but also sometimes manipulates the situation so as to undermine the relationships between Sethe, Paul D, and Denver. She clearly has a connection to the family, but neither the other characters nor the audience know what it is at first.
The pains and tribulations of the characters' pasts are revealed both through flashbacks and through their present-day emotions and choices, as Demme handles the slavery aspect delicately without indulging in obvious manipulation or sentimentality. BELOVED doesn't seek to portray slavery itself, but its after-effects on those who survived it. The use of the supernatural might seem out of place at first, but it actually functions very well as a metaphorical device. A horrifying secret about Sethe's past is soon to be revealed, and the supernatural aspect helps to show us a woman who is quite literally haunted by the past. If BELOVED is "about" anything other than its characters and their interactions, it's about the urge to look to the future, even when the past is so unforgettably horrible. And yet Sethe is not made to look foolish or obsessed: we understand why she behaves the way she does. Denver is more of a "good example" in that she wants to get away from their isolated country house and find work in the city, but then again, she never had to live through slavery, since she was born while Sethe was on the run. BELOVED manages to have a "message" and still be compassionate and sympathetic to those who don't catch onto it at first.
BELOVED may move a little slowly in a few places, but whatever its minor weaknesses, they are more than compensated for by Demme's skillful direction, the imaginative style of storytelling, and the outstanding performances, particularly from Winfrey and from Newton, whose awkward speech and motion is eerily effective. A well-constructed and deeply honest film, BELOVED is easily one of the best of the year.
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