I recently watched Tyler Perry’s movie, “For Colored Girls“. This movie is based on Ntozake Shange’s stage play, ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf“. The movie opens with an interesting approach . . . a series of voice-overs, with the lines of a poem serving as each woman’s interior monologue, until their voices layer over one another in a crescendo of despair.

A wonderful cast lines up for this movie Janet Jackson (Jo), Whoopi Goldberg (Alice), Thandie Newton (Tangie), Kimberly Elise (Crystal), Phylicia Rashad (Gilda), Anika Noni Rose (Yasmine), Kerry Washington (Kelly), Loretta Devine (Juanita). Macy Gray (Rose), Tessa Thompson (Nyla) and many others.

Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems, revealing different issues that impact women in general, and women of color in particular. The movie contains scenes about child murder, rape, domestic abuse, an illegal abortion, prostitution, and infertility among others. My favourite part of the movie is towards the end when all the actresses gather and Juanita takes them thorough self-realization of their love’s worth. These are words from the end scene:

Juanita: Now, how many times have you heard your man say it don’t feel the same? My love is too beautiful to have it thrown back on my face.
Yasmine: I like that.
Juanita: Try one.
Yasmine: What?
Juanita: Well, I do it all the time in my class. You just say, “My love is too ____,” and you just fill in the blank.
Gilda: My love is too sanctified to have it thrown back on my face.
Kelly: My love is too magic to have it thrown back on my face.
Tangie: My love is too “Saturday Night” to have it thrown back on my face.
Jo: My love is too complicated to have it thrown back on my face.
Yasmine: My love is too music to have it thrown back on my face.
Juanita: Yes, and you remember that when a man tries to walk off with all your stuff!

And now for me: Zimbabwe my love for you is too sanctified to have it thrown back in my face. And I will remember this each time people’s rights and dignity are trampled on.

This entry was posted on February 22nd, 2011 at 1:57 pm by Elizabeth Nyamuda and is filed under Activism, Inspiration, Media, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.