There’s this thing called the “elasticity of human emotion”, where the harder down you throw people, the higher up they’ll rise. I haven’t seen many movies demonstrate this principle better than The Color Purple. Whoopi Goldberg plays Celie, who we see having two children by her own father before being married off to Mister (Danny Glover), who beats her and convinces her she is ugly. The only person who ever loved her was her sister, Nettie, who Mister banishes from Celie’s life in more ways than one. Her children long since taken away and her sister gone, Celie is one heck of a tragic character. But out of her shame and despair there grows a sense of pride. Her transformation is a powerful one that gives the story universal appeal — who hasn’t felt ugly and unwanted in their lifetime?
Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is lovingly adapted to film by director Robert Mulligan, screenwriter Horton Foote, and producer Alan J. Pakula. Gregory Peck earned the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, a lawyer of uncompromising morals who puts the safety of his family on the line to defend Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man accused of raping a white woman. Finch is also a widower, raising his two young children with the help of his maid Calpurnia (Estelle Evans). The narrative is made a coming-of-age story through the eyes of Finch’s youngest, the feisty Jean Louise — or Scout (Mary Badham) as she’s nicknamed. Scout’s perspective on racism is balanced with her own fear and ignorance surrounding a neighbor named Boo Radley (Robert Duvall), who turns out to be her salvation when she and her brother are attacked by a bigot seeking revenge on their father.
