Beloved (1998) NO RATING GIVEN Disclaimer: The following is based solely on the first 55 minutes of the film.
Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Irma P. Hall, Jason Robards Written by: Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravenese and Adam Brooks Based on the novel by: Toni Morrison Directed by: Jonathan Demme Running Time: 172 minutes Date Reviewed: June 30, 1999
Without getting into the whole "Are movies art or entertainment?" argument, I will say that movies at their basic level are in fact a VISUAL experience. The point of going to a movie is to SEE a story being told. You as a moviegoer are invited to WATCH the screen in order to take away whatever it is you wish to take with you from the film, whether that be artistic merit or pure entertainment. Well, about 55 minutes into my viewing of Beloved, I realized that the film was making me look AWAY from the screen much more often than it was asking me to look directly at it. Something tells me that can't be right.
In those first 55 minutes of Beloved, the story being told is the one of Sethe (Oprah Winfrey), a former slave who's house in Ohio is haunted by the spirit of her deceased daughter. She is also haunted (understandably mind you) by the horrific memories of her past. Soon, an old friend (Danny Glover) re-enters her life, and possibly will help her to confront her demons... both spiritual and emotional.
Beloved opens with children screaming and a dog being thrown around a room, seemingly by a spirit in the house. The dog crashes into a wall, badly injured with it's eye bulging out of it's head. Sethe scoops up the crippled animal and places him on on a table, where she proceeds to place it's eye back into it's socket. Over the next 55 minutes we will see similar disgusting images like Oprah urinating, people vomiting, a young woman seemingly possessed who staggers around snarling and just being generally repugnant, a very graphic rape, and so much more.
Now I've been making a point in the review to stress that everything I'm talking about happens in the film's first 55 minutes. The reason for that is because after 55 minutes of extremely unpleasant images, I realized that life is too short. I asked myself, "Do I really need to sit through the remaining two hours of this film?" I don't get paid to review films... I'm doing it because I enjoy it. Beloved was not bringing me any enjoyment whatsoever. I'd rather be watching The Big Lebowski or Glory or The Odd Couple or many other movies that bring me a great deal of pleasure. Hell, I could even go OUTSIDE and get some fresh air, maybe frolic around in a meadow filled with sunflowers... ANYTHING at all would be better than watching another second of Beloved. Yes I understand it was a brutal time period in our country's history and yes, I understand that not everything in this world is sunshine and lollipops, but I really just wanted to do something else. I'd had enough. And who knows, maybe the film gets better in it's next two hours (this write-up is based solely on those first 55 minutes, mind you). Like I said though, I have no desire to ever find out.
Beloved is available on DVD from Touchtone Home Video. It contains the film in it's original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, a production featurette, and the original theatrical trailer. The quality of the DVD is adequate enough, so you can see and hear all of the revolting images and sounds with crystal clarity. Enjoy. [R]
The Jacksonville Film Journal -- Film Reviews by Chuck Dowling URL:http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Email:chuckd21@leading.net
© 1999 of The Jacksonville Film Journal. No reviews may be reprinted without permission.
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