Originally released in the 80’s, The Color Purple is one of the latest films to be re-released by Warner Brothers in 4k!
Warner Brothers have released another classic film to 4k, this time with the acclaimed The Color Purple. Following the life of Celie Johnson, later played by Whoopie Goldberg, as she deals with dealing with assault, racism, being a woman in a man’s world and more. It is based on the book by Alice Walker and is the same film that was released in 1985. The film was well received when it originally released but nearly forty years after release it’s clear that it falls short in a few areas, mostly glossing over aspects of the book that were important to the actual story. The main topics of the film make it obvious why there were so many award nominations but difficult topics are not the only important thing to remember when watching a film.
The cast were fantastic, namely Whoopie herself. It’s obvious why she was nominated for her role. The director choice begs the question, would he be “allowed” to make this film in today’s environment or would the studio choose a diversity hire? Or would this bring about some of the same derisive comments you see when Tarantino writes certain language for his cast? Regardless of how it would fare if filmed today, it was a decent enough film but the book itself surpasses it in terms of story. It does leave me curious if the remake that is on the horizon will be any better. Only time will tell.
