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Beloved

Beloved

List Price: $14.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the best movie I've ever seen.
Review: I first read Beloved when it appeared in 1988 and I was about 14 or 15. I was terrified yet mesmerized by the novel and have read it over and over again. When I heard that Oprah was having it made into a movie, I knew I had to see it. She and the rest of the cast did a fantastic job, particularly Kimberly Elise and Thandie Newton. And the musical score was so intense that I had to buy it!!

Beloved is a hauntingly beautiful and moving story that will never leave you. It is not only a ghost story, but also an affecting tale of how the memory can function to hold people captive even after they are free from slavery. Lots of people didn't like the film because of its manner of presentation. Yes, some of the scenes are ugly--but that's the whole point--that's the way life was for many Black people. But behind the ugliness and the sadness, there is beauty. Listen to the message in Baby Suggs holy's preaching and you'll understand everything.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Loved Beloved
Review: For those who did not understand or found it difficult to follow the story line of this hauntingly strange yet beautiful tale, I'm sorry for their loss. Had I closed my mind to this film after its first five minutes or because of the critics reviews, I too would have missed this powerful drama. Winfrey, Glover and the entire cast have my gratitude and respect for bringing Toni Morrison's story to film. Sethe, Paul Dee and Denver were wonderful strong characters. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. My eyes beheld Beloved and found it a beauiful well done work of art. Like many, I allowed the critics to discourage me from the theater and almost ignored it completely.

The shock of several scenes depicting the horrors and cruelity of slavery wained after my first several viewings, but I continued to find the story powerful, sad, joyous, strange and hauntingly beautiful. I can't seem to get enough and have returned again and again. My purchase of this movie will be a great addition to my most selective library of films.

This film has stayed with me. I though it should be given a chance and have asked several friends who also passed it up to view Beloved just for their opinion. It seems more people than not truly enjoy this film once they give themselves permission to view it with an opened mind and look pass the five second dog scene. It's a shame Winfrey, Glover and the entire cast were so overlooked for their contributions. This film should be given a second chance. What do you think?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love your heart!
Review: I recommend you reading the book by Toni Morrison before watching this movie (which I did) because I can understand the flashbacks being confusing if you have not read the book by the Nobel winning author Toni Morrison. "Beloved" is about a woman named Sethe who was "married" to a man named Halle at the plantation "Sweet Home" during the times of slavery. Sethe escapes slavery and is beaten by some white men while she was pregnant with her daughter Denver, and the white men drank her milk from her breasts. The scar from the cowhide whipping still remains on her back after many years, and it looks like a cherryblossom tree. Her husband Halle saw the whole thing and went crazy because of the experience, and she never saw her husband again. She has her baby with the help of a white girl named Amy Denver who is going to Boston to get some velvet. Amy is the one who points out that her back looks like a tree, and Sethe names her baby "Denver" after the white girl. She goes back home to Halle's mom's house, Baby Suggs, where she has hidden her children. Baby Suggs is an inspirational Christ-like character who gives sermons on loving your hands, skin, and heart because no one else will love them. Her speech scenes are done beautifully. Paul D, a man from Sethe's "Sweet Home," comes into their lives. Sethe's baby "Beloved" is haunting the house.
Beloved comes back in the body she would have been in had she lived. Sethe finally finds out that it is her baby, and she reveals that long ago when the white men came to claim Sethe's babies as property, she killed all of her children except Denver so that they would not be brought into slavery.
It is a beautiful and touching movie, and if you have never seen Oprah act, you are missing something! Glover and Winfry are both beautiful actors in this movie. Don't miss it!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Didnt do the book justice
Review: Oprah ruined the whole essence of the book with this movie. I was expected an oscar performance and got garbage. The book was poetic and explained the relationship between the family members, the relationship that blacks have with religion each other, slavery etc etc. The movie did not catch any of that. Most of the movie did not even make sense. I was sorely disappointed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: True to the spectacular book
Review: At nearly 3 hrs in length, Beloved has plenty of time to stay true to Toni Morrison's masterpiece, a multi-layered story that's part history, part fable, part ghost story, part family history, part mother-daughter tale. Like the book, it's bewildering in parts, the dream-like ramblings of Sethe's (played by Oprah Winfrey) slowly unraveling mind. Her mental state is caused by horrific events from her past that are gradually revealed as the story progresses.
Written and acted with the rhythms and cadences of a song or a long poem, Beloved is, at its core, a love story - but along the way the viewer gets flashbacks of mysterious and chilling doses of rage, murder, brutality, abuse and horror from Sethe's former life as a slave.
Superb.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: all i can say is what did i just watch?
Review: When i saw this in the theater it was about more then half full. by the time the movie was an hour into it about more then 3/4 of the audience had left. i thought it would get better but it just got more confusing. like other reviewers said i guess i should have read the book before seeing the movie. kimberly elise did a great job though. by the time the movie was over there were about 5 of us left in the theater and we looked at each other when we were leaving like what the heck did we just watch? maybe i should watch this again to better understand it. or read the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A hauntingly beautiful translation of a phenomenal book
Review: I first read Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' in a college class, and have since reread it several times. The story is thickly layered, entwined and rich with reality blending with madness, fantasy, guilt and passion. Sometimes it is hard to tell what is actually happening and what is in the character's minds....and that is part of what makes it such a fabulous gem. This is superb! The ONLY reason this movie did so poorly in theaters is that it (and the book) are way over the heads of the "Police Academy" and sitcom-esque society we live in.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome movie. Very powerful.
Review: I just saw this recently for the first time, and I have to say, its one of the most hard hitting movies about slavery that I have ever seen. I loved the spiritual elements that were in the movie. The performances were great. Oprah and Danny Glover were awesome. Thandie Newton should have got an Oscar nomination. See this movie if you haven't.

Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A MUST SEE MOVIE
Review: Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover were at their best in this movie. This movie is the best movie that I have seen yet. It is creepy at the beginning and very sad in the middle and the ending is great. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Beloved is a disappointment
Review: This is truly the worst movie I have ever seen. It was the longest 2 and a half hours of my life!!! I reccomend cleaning out your sock drawer instead of watching this movie. It will be a more enjoyable experience.


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