The Color Purple

Over the years there have been a few movies I have watched that have moved me emotionally, so deeply that they have held a very special place in my heart. To name a few, in Steel Magnolias the scene after the funeral always has me tearing up a bit and ready to bawl because the pain that Sally Fields portrays is so very real and raw.  The English Patient  is another tear-jerking  movie which I have only seen once and have yet to read the book of because it was just so hauntingly heartbreaking.  Then there is the movie I Am Legend with Will Smith (yet another show I will never be able to see again because of it's suspense and frightening content).   The Color Purple directed by Steven Spielberg is one of the most emotionally evocative movies I have seen (yet).  This scene pictured above is what I consider to be the most powerful one I have ever encountered.  If the movie is on the television, I will always stop to watch it even if I only catch the last half hour (which is, in my opinion the best part), just so that I can see Whoopie Goldberg again perform one of the most touching and overwhelmingly emotional parts of the whole movie.  I always cry because it is just so beautiful.

So it was with great interest that I read the book, and I am pleased to say that Spielberg didn't muck it up (meaning that he was pretty faithful to the book).  I must admit I would have been tickled pink to see Danny Glover quilting with Whoopie on the front porch, but I guess you can't have everything. 
Written as a journal (one of my favorite formats!), we get to follow Celie throughout her life, to a most satisfactory conclusion.  The writing is simple and the imagery is vivid without detail (though I thought that might be because of the movie at first, but I was wrong because as I went further into the story I had other images come to mind which are not a part of the movie).
It is a great story to step into and experience another way of life for a short while. It was great to have a peek into the strong and loving bond between women who are the best of friends. It was also a great way to be reminded of the value of simpler things that life can be about,  a good home-cooked meal or a hand-made quilt, which are more powerful and important than anything else I can express the significance of here.