since most movies about slavery shield us from the true horrors of what they 're portraying , it 's fitting to say that " beloved " come as a real shock as a film .
it 's confusing , bizarre , and as tough a film to watch as any film i 've seen all year , and that 's not necessarily because of the three - hour running time .
" beloved " is challenging to watch , filled with tough and powerful poetry
that takes us completely off guard , and instead of a straight - forward , hollywood - ized story about what happened to the slaves after they were freed , " beloved " comes off as a cry of anguish from all those who actually lived through what happened ( or , rather , toni morrison , who wrote the novel upon which this is based ) .
" beloved " tells the story of an ex - slave named sethe , played by oprah winfrey , who lives on a large farm in the north with her children .
when the film opens , her house is being terrorized by a poltergeist , which shakes things up , wounds the dog , and makes things generally uncomfortable for the family .
sethe is proud , though , and will not move .
her sons run away , leaving only her and her daughter , denver ( kimberly elise ) alone with the ghost which is there without any factual explanation .
a couple years pass , and the ghost remains , and one day , a man named paul d ( danny glover ) , another ex - slave who knew sethe years ago when they worked on a plantation together , arrives , asking for lodging .
he has been wandering around since he left the plantation , and when he enters the house , it turns red and becomes incredibly hot .
when he remarks about what he thinks is evil , sethe replies " it ai n't evil .
it 's just sad .
"
some more time passes , and paul d has become a fervent member of the household , and the ghost disappears .
but when they return one day from going out , they discover a young woman sitting in the house .
her name is beloved , and as played by thandie newton , she has almost zero motor skills .
she stumbles around , half - grabbing onto things and knocking them over , and when she speaks , she lets out a low guttural sound that eventually turns into baby talk .
they let her into her house , and she begins to turn things upside down .
" beloved " acts like an incredibly difficult chamber drama paired with a ghost story .
most of the scenes consist of people arguing in one claustrophobic , low - lit room , with the occasional flash to the past , where we see images of such horror that we thank god for modern - day psychoanalysts .
sethe and paul d have lived through such hellish times that they are forever implanted with the memories of their slavehood on the old plantation , which includes such images as sethe being raped by the white plantation hands , with her nipples being licked , prompting her to cry out to paul d when reminiscing about it , " they took my milk !
" worst of all was the month after her freedom , when she was allowed to live like a free person , working with other blacks on a farm , and then seeing that her old plantation owners have arrived to presumedly take her and her children back .
she runs to the barn near by , carrying her four children , and when her old owners burst in , they discover she has murdered one of them and is ready to murder the rest of them if they do n't leave them alone .
when she is inquired about this moment by paul d in a moment halfway through the film , she says she does n't regret it .
she killed her daughter so that she would not have to live through the horror she did , and she has convinced herself she did the right thing .
of course , beloved is really her daugher materialized , though we are n't flat out
told that until later on in the film .
beloved represents the pain and suffering the slaves went through and shows how difficult it was for them to deal with their freedom after being tortured for so long .
thus , " beloved " becomes
a sorta - redux of the andrei tarkofsky sci - fi classic , " solaris , " where a cosmonaut discovers that his wife , who commited suicide years before , has materialized when he is orbiting over a planet with a complex brain system .
that film spoke volumes about humanity and our memories , how we are constantly regretting what happened in the past , and when if it ever literally came back to haunt us , it would control us completely .
" beloved " moves along freely , without a lot of explanation , and
for the most part , this is extremely respectable .
the most interesting films are the ones that do n't explain everything for us , leaving gaps in the characters that we are supposed to fill in with how they act in the present tense .
sethe is never fully explained as a character , but we understand all her actions since she 's being played by oprah winfrey .
it 's been well over a decade since her last major performance in " the color purple , " but judging from these two films , i 'll bet she 's one of the best actresses working today
.
. . if she was strictly an actress .
her talk show , which i suppose is a great entity , has prevented her from becoming a noteworthy actress , and that 's a shame because she brings so much to this movie .
emotion .
sadness .
strength .
watching the strong sethe , who 's so afraid of the past that she 's built a rather strong protective coating around herself , break down when she discovers who beloved really is is what makes this movie really great .
she makes it real .
that 's not to say this is a perfect film .
in fact , i 'd wager to say that the fact that it 's confusing and painful to watch is what prevents this from being the truly great film it is .
while oprah 's performance is powerful and easily sympathetic
( and i 'm dying to see her win at least an oscar nomination
this february ) , the structure of the film , which does n't show what happened to her children till halfway through the film , prevents us from really making a cohesive connection to the film .
it does n't necessarily move as though they 're memories of one particular character , and by the end , it has lost control over sethe , and as she takes to bed , we are unable to truly identify with her anymore .
but despite its tediousness , perhaps that 's the point .
the distancing by the end of the film may be just part of the way it has been built from the start , since they figure she has crossed over from being identifiable , and it needs to get back with reality .
and for the most part , this film seems like the cry of pain from the slaves that it really wants to be .
jonathan demme 's direction is bizarre , in nature with the story , and he creates the right mood , making it a tough film to sit through , making sure that the audience feels as uncomfortable as the characters .
there 's more to admire here , like the way that the flashbacks pop up freely and without real organization , just like they would be in real life ; and the way that the ending leaves it somewhat open to more pain and suffering , but laced with a touch of optimism .
the acting , not only from winfrey , is amazing , and i anticipate not only she will get an oscar nomination .
everyone has been raving about thandie newton 's performance , and how it should be rewarded .
however , it must be noted that out of everyone , she had the easiest part .
act like a baby .
throw things .
stumble around .
chew food with your mouth open .
i do think there 's another performance worthy of oscar conisderation , but it 's kimberly elise , as the daugher who has to stay sensible and sane , and has to carry the burden of her mother 's loss of reality towards the end .
it 's not that newton is n't great : she 's as annoying and wacky as the role demands .
it 's just that elise has the tougher job and pulls it off even better .
despite the fact that this film has winfrey written all over it , and not that of writer morrison or director demme , " beloved " has still not done well .
costing , i think , around ninety million dollars , it has since grossed about twenty - two .
unfortunately , this film is a little too intense for viewers , even for me , and i can stand almost anything
( i recently viewed the 2 1/2 hour long epic " caligula , " the worst film i have ever seen in my life , and did it in a mere 2 sittings ) .
although i respect " beloved , " i ca n't say that i really enjoyed it .
tough and powerful poetry she 's one of the best actresses working today win at least an oscar nomination she brings so much to this movie amazing there 's more to admire here powerful and easily sympathetic