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Beloved 
Actors : Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards
Director : Jonathan Demme
Studio : Walt Disney Video
by Walt Disney Video
Release Date : 1999-05-18
Publisher : Walt Disney Video
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780788815478
UPC : 717951002365
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 139 reviews)
List Price : $14.99
Our Price : $5.72
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Americancivilwar.com |
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This layered film, a labor of love from director Jonathan Demme and star Oprah Winfrey, covers a lot of turf in its nearly three-hour running time. Part slavery fable, part mother-daughter tale, part ghost story, Beloved demands an audience's full attention from its dramatic, slightly bewildering opening, when a family dog comes down on the wrong side of some angry, unseen force. But Demme and his talented cast provide an unforgettable payoff for those who surrender. The film traces the life of Sethe (played in her middle years by Winfrey), a former slave who has rebuilt what seems to be a peaceful, productive life in Ohio. Yet through chilling, sparing use of flashback, Demme slowly unveils, as does the Toni Morrison masterpiece on which the film is based, the horrors of Sethe's former life, and the terrible event that led to the haunting of Sethe's home. While the horrors of slavery and the bloody event in Sethe's family leave undeniable impressions, the film's brilliance is also evidenced in smaller, equally satisfying ways. Rachel Portman's spiritual-influenced score is as uplifting as it is haunting, and the glimpses of the post-slavery African American world--as with a simple family outing to a local carnival, or a ladies' sewing-and-gospel circle--make this a treat for the intellect as well as the heart. The members of the cast, especially Kimberly Elise as Sethe's struggling daughter and Thandie Newton as the mysterious title character, are supremely affecting. --Anne Hurley |
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Description |
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Oprah Winfrey (THE COLOR PURPLE) and Danny Glover (LETHAL WEAPON IV, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS) play the unforgettable lead roles in a powerful, widely acclaimed cinematic triumph from Jonathan Demme -- the Academy Award(R)-winning director of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. On a difficult journey to find freedom, Sethe (Winfrey) is constantly confronted by the secrets that have haunted her for years. Then, an old friend from out of her past (Glover) unexpectedly reenters her life. With his help, Sethe may finally be able to rediscover who she is and regain her lost sense of hope. Also featuring outstanding performances from Thandie Newton (GRIDLOCK'D) and Lisa Gay Hamilton (TV's THE PRACTICE) -- you'll agree with critics everywhere who've hailed this landmark adaptation of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel as one of the year's finest films! |
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The Perfect Movie |
I recieved the dvd in record time, I am very, very, very happy with my purchase.
Debra |
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Don't Understand The Negative |
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I just rewatched this film after about 10 years, and I was blown away again. As someone who thinks the book is one of America's greatest novels of all time, I have to say Jonathan Demme and the cast of Beloved created some flawless work. I don't think I will ever understand the negative reviews of this film or the novel for that matter. When I read people say "disgusting" or "gross" about the film, I get very worried that people don't understand how disgusting and gross American slavery was. This film is about free slaves, people that had the worst cruelties known to man acted out on them. Over 60 million people were destroyed by slavery, and people can't handle this film? This is a film about American's being haunted by the past. It is about American's trying to survive after they were enslaved and then lived in a country that set up a system that would treat them like non citizens. This is a story about motherhood and fear. It is a beautiful film, with some intoxicating images, flawless acting and complex ideas. Maybe read the book, breath and then watch AND listen to this film. Please open your minds. |
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Despised |
Im glad to see that Im not the only one who doesnt like this slop. People have a peculiar habit of embracing a movie because Oprah Lewinsky's name attached to it. The setting of the movie takes place after slavery. The whole thing is about Oprah(whose character name I forgot) murders two of her children during slavery so that the slavemaster wouldnt put her children in slavery. She kills one of them by bashing the baby's head against a wall and she slashes the throat of the other child. The child who neck got slashed returns later(played by Thandie Newton) to haunt her mother and makes her life a living hell. The movie has every sick element you can think of: bestiality, public urination(did we really need to see Bloprah pissing in public?), incest(Danny Glover's character literally banged "Beloved") etc. The acting is sloppy, and the movie is very dull plus Beloved's antics get annoying real quick. I'll admit that I got a cheap laugh at her drooling and talking like the little boy from The Shining(you know the one who says REDRUM every 5 seconds) but she is still a pain and Hoeprah's acting was pretty weak too. Even the talented Danny Glover part in this movie was sad. The whole movie makes little sense and you shouldnt even bother wasting time watching it. I was bored out of my skull when I viewed it in its entirety at my sister's house up in Boston. After watching it, I vowed to never get that bored again!
Two thumbs way down. |
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Baby Suggs Holy |
Well I've read many of the reviews here and the positive ones express much of what I feel...
but I wanted to mention Grandma Suggs.
I have read the book so I know her sermon in the forest is slightly different and a little longer than in the movie...but the movie version moves me to tears every time.
I have gotten the movie out just to watch the sermon...it is split into 3 parts dispersed into different scenes.
The last of the sermon is at the end of the movie...
I don't remember the exact words in this moment but it's something like
"and the beat...beat of your heart..
love it
love your heart.................
...........this is the prize...
amen....
this is the prize..."
I bust out crying tears of gratitude every time. I just love the actress that plays Baby Suggs...soooo much.
"lay down your sword and sheild Sethe...study war no more"
This story is specific to the burden, horror and human outrage of slavery, but it is also metaphor for every other travesty humans inflict upon each other...and our incredible will to survive, to love, to lift ourselves up...and to help one another through it all....
Study war no more... |
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This COULD have been a truly great film! |
The purpose of screenwriters who adapt a novel is to make the viewer NOT have to read the novel in order to understand the film! That said, I have watched BELOVED several times since it's theatrical release in 1998. At that time I thought that I would NEVER revisit this nearly three hour debacle. There is SO much to admire about this film; the acting is first-rate;the Rachel Portman soundtrack is positively one of if not her best;the cinematography of Fuj Sakimoto is outstanding.........but something still is lost somewhere in the translation of Toni Morrison's novel either in the screenplay or the editing that makes this an extremely difficult movie to follow. There are SO many stories going on in this film that it is hard to know just where to "hang your hat." It is a story of slavery, of women's strength, of supernatural/spirituality, of a daughter's needs/jealousy,there are ghosts, there is a certain weirdness that,...well......YIKES!!!....how much more needs to be crammed in to make this film make sense...or more senseless??? Believe me, I admire much about the scope of this film, but it has serious problems that should have been fixed. Perhaps the "labor of love" that Oprah and Demme felt for the book only clouded their judgment in the final product.The film is sprawling and loses all center focus. A film and a screenplay need to stand on their own WITHOUT forcing a viewer to read the book OR read other reviews in order to totally understand what they just saw!!! This is where BELOVED fails miserably.What you walk away with is ONLY what you can piece together (or think you can piece together!). I still watch this film for all of it's beauty and yet still come away with a certain emptiness that mourns the loss of what could have been a truly great film! I genuinely wish that I could have given it 5 stars!
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