2023’s The Color Purple is the newest rendition of the novel-turned-film-turned-stage musical. The newest film, which came out Christmas Day is an adaption of its own uniqueness by establishing hints of the original film directed by Steven Spielberg, as well as the stage musical. The film, directed by Blitz Bazawule, still follows the same premise of a young girl, Celie, as she goes through her life and has to deal with marking her own independence from her abusive husband, plus the longing of finding her long lost sister. When the film went on my radar is when I actually watched the Spielberg film for the first time and I thought it was pretty good, but I found it lacking the emotion and energy that this story needed. I just didn’t know that a musical was what it needed.

When the film first starts, I’d say the first twenty minutes are pretty good. Phylicia Pearl Mpasi plays a younger Celie. During this time, it’s established that young Celie has a strong bond with her sister, Nettie, played by Halle Bailey. We get the sense that their father is a cruel man and that these sisters work for him. When Albert “Mister” Johnson comes knocking at their family store for Nettie’s hand in marriage, the father decides to send Celie instead with Mister. There is a strong sense of emotion through its musical set pieces all within the first twenty minutes. I was quite impressed how the director was able to get the talent singing to bring out so much emotion while the dancers around the singing talent never hit a beat. The side characters tend to do certain actions that bring out the music such as workers hitting the ground with a shovel. This is where I can actually appreciate musicals and I think musicals are getting nowadays because of this. The musical set pieces never really feel out of place, but rather resemble the emotions that the characters are feeling. It’s through music where life can be just a little bit better, which I found to be a power element to this newest version.

Once all of the set up is established, the rest of the first half struggles with keeping up with the same momentum. Colman Domingo is great in everything he does, and it certainly didn’t looked easy for him to balance his journey in the film, but the film does do a bit much with his action to his newfound wife. It’s clear that he doesn’t love her as much as the one that really got away, Shug Avery, played by a tremendous Taraji P. Henson. What the film does though is show how much he doesn’t like Celie by continuously beating her, hiding mail from her, and consistently telling her to cook and clean. Maybe it’s because it’s hard to watch, but I think this segment lingers on longer than necessary. When Nettie decides to move in, shortly afterwards, Mister attempts to seduce her, but when she rejects him, he throws her out and nearly kills her. Instead of chasing after her sister to be with her, Celie just sits on the ground and watches, even though Mister has already walked in the opposite direction. I was just a little confused why she didn’t go with her sister. It wouldn’t have been as bad as being with her husband. It’s little things between the pacing and what the script calls for some of the characters that the first half does feel rocky. That is until the second half aligns itself with the upmost quality.

Going into this, the bartender at my movie theater mentioned that she heard the second half was really emotional. Once the second half hit, I saw what she was saying. The second half, in a nutshell, is incredible and worth the price of admission. When Taraji P. Henson is brought in is when the film takes off. When she is finally brought in is actually not the first time we see her. We see her through this picture left on Mister’s nightstand through one of the most unique shots I have ever seen on screen. You’d think that she is deceased, but nope. She is still alive and well, which goes to show how Mister feels about her and not about his own wife. It’s an important set-up for when she actually arrives and makes Celie feel more comfortable. It’s ironic as Mister’s admiration for her leads to his downfall. Celie finally has enough with Mister, leading to a powerful dinner scene that is one of the best performances of the year from Fantasia Barrino as the older Celie. The moment Fantasia is on screen until the last moment, I truly felt like Lily Gladstone would actually be challenged at this year’s Oscar. Truly, one of the best performances of the year.

But the positives don’t stop there. There is some other really powerful stuff involved those who are close with Celie, such as Danielle Brooks’ character, which leads her character down a very uneasy path. The all-star cast from Brooks to Domingo to Bailey to Corey Hawkins all round strong supporting performances, but they never overshadow Fantasia’s performance. Fantasia even delivers a powerful solo musical set piece that lead to my theater applauding before the movie ended (they applauded then, too). What the story makes these characters go through leads them on some dark journeys before they get to the good is just one of the reasons why my theater was so engrossingly attached to the film.

Finally, it’s worth nothing how incredible the cinematography & sound design are. The cinematography has a tendency of making nearly every shot look like a still frame that you can put on your wall, evoking strong emotions. With there being so much happening on screen, the cinematography manages to capture the essence of what’s important on screen. Then, there is the sound design. I am convinced that this year be one of the best for sound design. I would say the musical set pieces are more of a figment of the character’s imaginations whenever there were other things going on around them, such as workers shoveling dirt. It resembled why musicals are integral to tell a story. Out of all of the genres I typically watch, I am most critical of musicals, because it is difficult to capture the right emotions that such a film like this can achieve without it looking unrealistic.

Overall, The Color Purple manages to distance itself enough from the original to make it emotionally impactful thanks to its direction, performances, and musical set pieces. While the film starts off strong, thus leading into a slower first half, the second half picks up and holds nothing back. Fantasia Barrino is a star in the making and musicals seems to be on track of getting it right. If you can, I strongly encourage you to check out this one.

VERDICT: Great