The Color Purple (2024) – Hell Yes

Released: 25th January
Seen: 1st February

In 1982, Alice Walker released her Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple which received rave reviews and massive sales. That book caught the eye of one Steven Spielberg who turned it into the beloved 1985 film that’s not only gone on to be a beloved cinematic classic but essentially jumpstarted the careers of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, so it’s hard to deny its importance as a piece of cinema. Twenty years after the film was released, somebody got the bright idea to turn this dramatic tale into a musical where it would initially get poor reviews but, upon being revived in 2015, got the recognition it deserved as a truly great work. Now it can have that recognition forever since we have The Color Purple musical on film and it’s truly something worth singing some praises about.

I would hope that someone going to see this film would have a general idea of the plot but, because it’s the format, The Color Purple tells the story of Celie Harris-Johnson (Fantasia Barrino), a young woman who has lived a traumatic life which includes being impregnated by her father and giving birth to two children who are swiftly taken away from her and “given to god”. Celie’s only solace is her sister Nettie (Halle Bailey) but that solace doesn’t last long when Celie is effectively thrown away to be married off to the abusive Mister (Colman Domingo) and forcibly separated from Nettie. Throughout The Color Purple we follow Celie’s life, watching a woman just trying to survive in a world that keeps trying to destroy her and finding strength through friends like Sofia (Danielle Brooks) and the iconic Shug Avery (Taraji P Henson). 

To take on the task of basically remaking one of the greatest films of the 80s is a foolish task no matter who would’ve taken it on, but for Blitz Bazawule to tackle The Color Purple as his third feature-length film is borderline insanity that should’ve blown up horribly in his face because who on earth looks at the 8th Steven Spielberg film and goes “Yeah, I can do that“ their third time out of the gate? An absolute madman who clearly knew what the hell he was doing, that’s who because Blitz Bazawule has just leapt up to the top of any watchlist for whatever he makes next, if he is able to take on The Color Purple with its long and powerful history and turn out something this powerful, someone throw him a truckload of money and let’s see what happens.

You could just pin all of the things that The Color Purple does so well on the director who clearly understood the assignment. Take the classic film, turn everything up to 11 and somehow manage to keep it from turning into a farce when everyone starts dancing and singing. Musical drama might be the hardest thing to pull off successfully, the nature of musicals in general makes it harder to maintain a serious tone which this film definitely needs. It’s a needle that’s constantly moving, constantly waving about just ready to go off but somehow they thread that needle perfectly and manage to keep things serious while also including some joyful, high energy musical numbers. 

It also helps that selling those musical numbers is one of the best casts assembled since the original The Color Purple. The original The Color Purple had not only some of the greatest black artists of the day but introduced the world to new ones that would change everything and if there is any justice in the world that will happen here. Fantasia Barrino had the impossible task of stepping into Celie’s shoes on film (she’d already done it on stage) and yet you would think the role was written explicitly for her. She carries the bulk of The Color Purple on her back and makes everything work. It’s breathtaking when she gets the chance to sing and you feel every emotion she has in her soul. Taraji P Henson meanwhile has the job of making you believe the world loves her without even trying and damnit she does that too, she roars onto the screen with such undeniable charisma that you understand why the entire town would burst into song just because she’s driving through. Whenever Fantasia and Taraji are together, magic happens that is impossible to describe. They elevate every scene together and make it impossible to look away from.

Then there’s our Oscar Nominee, one Danielle Brooks as Sofia… if the studios were smart, they would be working out how to give this woman her own film to star in because this performance should be the one that makes the world know Danielle Brooks’ name. Sure, most people would know her from Orange is the New Black but this is the role where she gets to show off every talent you can imagine and then make a few more up just for fun. The Color Purple is objectively at its best any time Danielle is in a scene, whether she’s being the life of the party by showing off her confidence or when she’s broken during the climax of her character arc. Easily the high point for her and for the film is the Hell No number that follows the iconic “you told Harpo to beat me” monologue and it shows off how good Danielle is as an artist. She breaks your heart, but also performs a musical number like it was the only thing that matters on earth. She’s a star, don’t let anyone tell you anything else.

In a cast full of stars, somehow everyone manages to make absolute meals out of what’s been given. The entire film takes the story that we know, cleans it up just enough that we don’t have any excess that doesn’t really sell Celie’s story and then turns the dial up to see what happens. Most of the time this works fantastically, everything being heightened and stylised keeps things from getting too hard for a mainstream audience to grasp onto and also gives The Color Purple an energy that never drops. Sometimes it does lead to a few moments of whiplash, it’s kind of odd to go from a dramatic funeral scene to a colourful song about pants with a break for some tap dancing and that whiplash does take a bit to get used to but once you make the adjustments, your reward is getting to enjoy the full breadth of the show being put on.

While this version of The Color Purple might not be as instantly iconic as the 1985 version, it’s still astoundingly good. Everyone understood how important it was to get this right and damnit if they didn’t put everything into making it work. Every little element of The Color Purple feels special, so many talented performers get given chances to show off their undeniable skills and it feels like a new legendary director might’ve just been found. Considering how rare it is for a film adaptation of a Broadway musical to work at all (Looking at you, Cats and Dear Evan Hansen), it feels like a gift to get one that not only works but is truly captivating in every way.