One of my favorite movies, came out the year I was born! It was also Whoopi Goldberg's first movie.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cxS9qSU-25E (My favorite scene!)
I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier. Yes, this was a fantastic interpretation of Alice Walker's timeless novel. I'm going to be seeing this on Broadway when I'm in NYC this summer. It should be really exciting seeing as I loved the book and the movie.
I just noticed this thread. I saw the film when it first came out and remember being very excited about it since the book is one of the finest yet written - Alice Walker is one of our best writers, I love her writing. I was disappointed in the film as it didn't get close to matching the power that the book created. That book has had much personal resonance for me, so my standards for the translation to film were very high. The visions that book created in me were much stronger than those reached in the movie. And there were crucial elements missing from the book that really disappointed me. I thought it had too much of the Spielberg touch and felt that story could have been told better by a different director.
I'd need to re-read the book and re-visit the movie to see if my perspectives on this have changed any.
terriberriez, have you read the book?
I haven't read the book but one of my friends did and she told me that many facts were left out of the movie. I don't want to go into detail because I don't know who has and hasn't seen the movie/read the book. I need to put that on my "to-do" list. :)