Beloved (1998/I)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writers (WGA):

Toni Morrison (novel)
Akosua Busia (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 October 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The past has a life of its own.

Plot:

Based on the book by Toni Morrison, in which a slave is visited by the spirit of her deceased daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Spirit | Slavery | Freedom | Ohio | Mother Kills Own Child

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Oprah Winfrey	...	Sethe
Danny Glover	...	Paul D Garner
Thandie Newton	...	Beloved
Kimberly Elise	...	Denver
Beah Richards	...	Baby Suggs, aka Grandma Baby
Lisa Gay Hamilton	...	Younger Sethe
Albert Hall	...	Stamp Paid
Irma P. Hall	...	Ella
Carol Jean Lewis	...	Janey Wagon
Kessia Randall	...	Amy Denver (as Kessia Kordelle)
Jude Ciccolella	...	Schoolteacher
Anthony Chisholm	...	Langhorne
Dorothy Love Coates	...	M. Lucille Williams
Jane White	...	Lady Jones
Yada Beener	...	Denver aged 9

MPAA:

Rated R for violent images, sexuality and nudity.

Runtime:

172 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:18A | Chile:18 | France:U | Germany:16 (bw) | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #36139) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Fair Hill Natural Resources Area - 376 Fair Hill Drive, Fair Hill, Maryland, USA

Company:

Clinica Estetico

Trivia:

Oprah Winfrey purchased the film rights to the novel in 1987. She claims that while reading the book, she could only picture herself as Sethe and Danny Glover as Paul D. It took her ten years to get the film made, which she finally had to produce herself.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene with a deer in the field, a car is visible driving by in the upper right hand corner.

Quotes:

Denver: We have a ghost here, you know?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in One Missed Call (2008)

Soundtrack:

Sethe's Lullaby

Beloved has received an unfair and undeserved bad rap.

Roundly ignored at the box office and trounced by critics, Beloved deserves looking at. I saw it in the theaters before reading one word. I was moved, frightened, and impressed by the character point of view shots of scenes that were told in flashback, of the set design, and of the genuine emotion conveyed of over one hundred years of pain. Quite possibly it didn't fare well, because of its subtlety. It is not Toni Morrison's writing, but it delivers its goods visually, on it's on terms It shows you more than it tells, and can be taken as either a ghost story, or a portrait of a psychologically unsound narrator.