LaNotta Battle
ENG 225 Introduction to Film
Instructor Paul Wiltz
April 29, 2012
For Colored Girls Critique Draft
The 2010 drama film For Colored Girls follows the intersecting lives of nine African American women. When you watch this film you can expect to be taken on an emotional ride of heartbreak and tragedy. This film grapples with the topics of rape, abortion, and domestic abuse. However, the most difficult scenes to watch, center on a rape and the murder of two young children by their father. Despite the heavy subject matter, the movies message about self-respect is a worthwhile one. The film’s storytelling, acting, cinematography, sound, and editing are excellent and makes for an outstanding movie.
“Being alive and being a woman is all I got, but being colored is a metaphysical dilemma I haven’t conquered yet” (Perry, 2010). For Colored Girls is a Tyler Perry inspired motion picture. The screenplay for the 2010 movie was written by Tyler Perry. It is based on the award winning 1975 play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, by Ntozake Shange. According to the Washington Post, Michael O' Sullivan "For Colored Girls may, in fact, be Perry's best film (O’Sullivan, 2010). In fact, it has won NCAAP Image awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Elise), and Best Director (Tyler Perry).
This story complete with Black Reel, BET, and Image Award winning performances in acting, best movie, best songs, and directing is perfect for those in need of understanding what it means to be self-respecting. What we as a society still tend to ignore is that African Americans were forcibly brought to this country in chains for centuries and confined to a barbaric system of slavery that intentionally broke-down one's sense of self. The movie opens with a haunting string-swathed classical piano piece with poetic recitals by Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise and Janet Jackson.