Author: Mokebe

Directed By: Tyler Perry

Produced By: Tyler Perry

Screenplay By: Tyler Perry

Based on: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf  by Ntozake Shange

Starring: Janet Jackson, Anika Noni Rose, Whoopi Goldberg, Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Kimberly Elise, Tessa Thompson, Kerry Washington and Macy Gray.

Rating: 7/10

A poetic enchantment based on Ntokaze Shange’s play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

The movie, however, unlike the play, features an ensemble cast of 20 characters and diverts from the original, which represented seven nameless roles in the form of colours, performing the same collection of 20 poems.

Each of the poems deals with intense issues that particularly impact women in a thought-provoking commentary on what it means to be a female of colour in this world.

Like Shange's play—which is considered to be a landmark piece in African American literature - the film depicts the interconnected lives of nine women, exploring their lives and struggles as women of color.

"Being alive and being a woman is all I got, but being colored is a metaphysical dilemma I haven't conquered yet.”

So as I sat down to watch the film that I’d already heard so much about, I’m not sure what I really expected. I’d after all only known Mr. Perry to produce fluff, mass-appeals such as the Madea collection (which I will admit to having indulged in), but of course having some knowledge of the original play, went in with an open mind.

After being told to take some tissues along, I knew of course that there may be a few tears shed, but didn’t realise the level of emotion, or the source of these tears.

For Colored Girls is a film that makes you smile mildly, chuckle softly, cry out loud, want to bang your fists against something particularly hard (preferably the face of a black man), grow your armpit hair, get your placards out, and make you join the fight – for “coloured” girls.

I must admit that the one emotion that I came away with after seeing the film is anger.

I find myself angry and bitter at the wonderfully portrayed and laid out truth that this necessary film depicts.

Being a “coloured” girl myself, and having spent my life surrounded by fellow “sisters”, I have seen enough and heard enough stories to make one eternally bitter and even hopeless, but thankfully, if the story is to be believed there is a rainbow to be followed.

For me it’s a reminder, of all the odds that are stacked up against women of colour. Not only do we fight a daily battle to keep the clothes on our backs (the proverbial workplace), but the one place that we would think to run to – the arms of the our men – it turns out, is also a complete loss - place of nowhere to turn, but to ourselves.

Juanita: I got a real dead loving here for you now, because I don't know anymore how to avoid my own face wet with my tears! Because I had convinced myself that colored girls have no right to sorrow!

Frank: I guess this is goodbye.

Juanita: Like you've never seen it before.

As I sat and watched of course, one could hear the usual heckling from those that were made uncomfortable enough to make forced jokes about the content; to complain that it is “too much like The Vagina Monologues” - that it dragged on too long - and was over-sentimental.

But in those undeniable moments, when it all got too real and stared us in the face, all one could hear was the silence of people gripped in that huge, but minuscule moment of reality. For the truth at the end of the day, is that although based on a fictional play, many of the stories, or at least the themes behind them, are a reality which is all too real.

Without painting all with the same brush, it has to be mentioned that a big disappointment has to be the way that the film has been received by especially a lot of males, who in short believe that it’s yet another film that gives into the whining of the African (American) women, and although respect is a shared thread, and each entitled to his own, I stand firmly in the belief that this story has to ring true to all.

This film is not for everyone. If truth is not your cup of tea, and raw emotion (whatever its source) not your fad, then it’s possibly one to give a skip. There are moments of pure - heart-wrenching-elongated, to the max pain.

It is certainly a film I would recommend to anyone with an open heart and appreciation for poetry, and definitely anyone that possesses a rare form of empathy.

The lesson to be taken away is that we are worth far more than we give ourselves credit for. Knowing your worth is half the battle; and once you know it, hold onto it. Hold onto it for all you are worth. Keep reminding yourself, every day that you are worthy of happiness. Worthy of being treated well. Worthy of respect, and the utmost love.

For Colored Girls received generally mixed reviews from most critics. It seems to me somewhat related to the name behind it, but let’s not get bogged down with conspiracy theories. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 50, based on 33 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".

Take a look at the Official trailer and share your thoughts on the film.

Follow me on twitter @mokebe

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