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Musical Film 'The Color Purple' Dances from Trauma to Triumph

Cast members, Director Blitz Bazawule and Alicia Keys attend a premiere for the film "The Color Purple" in Los Angeles, California, US, December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
Cast members, Director Blitz Bazawule and Alicia Keys attend a premiere for the film "The Color Purple" in Los Angeles, California, US, December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
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Musical Film 'The Color Purple' Dances from Trauma to Triumph

Cast members, Director Blitz Bazawule and Alicia Keys attend a premiere for the film "The Color Purple" in Los Angeles, California, US, December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
Cast members, Director Blitz Bazawule and Alicia Keys attend a premiere for the film "The Color Purple" in Los Angeles, California, US, December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

Following the fame of previous versions, Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule was not sure the 2023 musical film adaptation of “The Color Purple” was a movie that he could make.
“It’s been a brilliant Pulitzer Prize winning book by Alice Walker, it’s been a multi-nominated film by Steven Spielberg, and of course, a Tony award-winning Broadway play,” he said.
“So, when you step into something like that, it’s very clear the bar’s incredibly high,” he added.
Despite his early concerns, after re-reading Walker’s novel, Bazawule was confident he could add something new to the story.
Following in Spielberg's footsteps, who directed the 1985 film, Bazawule's iteration of “The Color Purple” is the first that is based on the Broadway show, Reuters said.
Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, who starred in the original film as Sofia, and Quincy Jones, returned to serve as producers with a screenplay by Marcus Gardley.
The first film starred Whoopi Goldberg, who won a Golden Globe for her performance as Celie. This time around, the film stars TV show American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, who was also Celie in the Broadway musical adaptation of the book.
The Grammy-winning music artist received her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress on Dec. 11.
Starring as Celie, Fantasia is joined by Phylicia Pearl Mpasi as young Celie, Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery, Danielle Brooks as Sofia, “Rustin” actor Colman Domingo as Albert “Mister” Johnson and Corey Hawkins as Harpo Johnson.
The period-drama musical dances into US theaters on Dec. 25.
"The Color Purple" follows the story of two Black American teenage sisters, Celie and Nettie, in the American South during the early 1900s.
Celie embarks on a journey to find her freedom after she and Nettie are separated by the men in their lives and must overcome years of abuse.
Domingo and many of his castmates find that the stories of Black women and their families navigating and overcoming complex dynamics are at the core of the film.
"I think we’re dealing with a family here. That’s actually what 'The Color Purple' is about. It’s about these women making changes through adversity and the men who inflict a lot of harm," Domingo said.
Echoing his thoughts on the Warner Bros. movie, Henson said that in addition to unpacking trauma, it is important for the film to explore Black joy.
“Our power lies in our joy. That's why it's imperative that we tap into it, and that's innately what we do,” she added.
With that said, Bazawule does not want audiences to think that the movie is only applicable to the Black community.
“Yes, her journey was specific to the American South in the early 1900s but there are several Celies around us. Sometimes we ourselves are Celies,” he said.

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Entertainment

André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
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André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)

No one was expecting it. Late last year, André 3000 released his debut solo album, "New Blue Sun," 18 years after his legendary rap group Outkast's last studio album, "Idlewild."

But "New Blue Sun" has "no bars," he jokes. It's a divergence from rap because "there was nothing I was liking enough to rap about, or I didn't feel it sounded fresh. I'm not about to serve you un-fresh (expletive.)"

Instead, he offered up a six-track instrumental album of ambient alt-jazz — with special attention paid to the flute.

"The sound, that's how I got into it," he says of the instrument. "The portability, too. You can't tote around a piano and play in Starbucks."

He's also invested in the flute's history — like learning about Mayan flutes made from clay, a design he had re-created in cedarwood. "There’s all kinds of fables and, you know, indigenous stories that go along with playing the flute — playing like the birds or playing your heart like the wind — it kind of met (me) where I was in life," he says.

"Flutes — wind instruments in general — are the closest thing you get to actually hearing a human," he continues. "You're actually hearing the breath of a person."

"New Blue Sun" is a stunning collection, one that has earned André 3000 three new Grammy Award nominations: album of the year, alternative jazz, and instrumental composition. Those arrive exactly 25 years after the 1999 Grammys, where Outkast received their first nomination — for "Rosa Parks," from their third album, "Aquemini" — and 20 years after the group won album of the year for "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below."

"It matters because we all want to be acknowledged or recognized," André 3000 says of his new Grammy nominations. "It's a type of proof of connection, in some type of way ... especially with the Grammys, because it's voted on by a committee of musicians and people in the industry."

He's a bit surprised by the attention, too, given the type of album he created. "We have no singles on the radio, not even singles that are hot in the street," he says. "When you're sitting next to Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, these are highly, hugely popular music artists, I'm satisfied just because of that ... we won just to be a part of the whole conversation."

He theorizes that it may be because popular music listening habits are broadening. "A lot of artists are just trying different things. Even, you know, the album that Beyoncé is nominated for, it’s not her normal thing," he says of her country-and-then-some record, "Cowboy Carter.We’re in this place where things are kind of shifting and moving."

For André 3000, "New Blue Sun" has allowed him to "feel like a whole new artist," but it is also an extension of who he's always been. "Being on the road with Outkast and picking up a bass clarinet at a pawn shop in New York and just sitting on the back of the bus playing with it — these things have been around," he says.

He's also always embraced "newness," as he puts it, experimenting creatively "even if it sounds non-masterful."

"Even producing for Outkast, I was just learning these instruments. If I ... put my hands down and play ‘Ms. Jackson,’ I'm not knowing what I'm playing. But I like it," he says.

As for a new Outkast album, "I never say never," he says. "But I can say that the older I get, I feel like that time has happened."