The movie Beloved had many key scenes that well represented the novel but it had its mishaps. I also didn’t enjoy the casting for Sethe, but I loved the casting for Beloved although it bothered me to a certain extent. A few scenes struck me as almost foreign because the scene seemed to not completely match the novel making it difficult to understand that they were the same scenes. The movie did not fare well with its method of interpreting of the flash backs from the novel.
The movie’s depiction of Denver was remarkable; the level of resentment to Paul D; the love then hate for Beloved; just everything was very good. The casting of Beloved was very good but it was awkward to see Thandia Newton; a woman of nose bleed inducing caliber, play a creepy teenage baby. I didn’t fully understand the breathing, it didn’t sound like anything a baby would ever make unless it was possess. This raises the idea that Beloved was demon and not a possessed woman. As for the casting of Sethe, a better idea could have been to use someone with more sex appeal than *clears throat* Oprah. A suggestion would be like Alicia Keys or somewhere along those lines.
The scene in the movie when Paul D first shows his face and he walks into the house and the house reacts by creating a red light that fills the house seemed a bit too exaggerated and seemed just all around unpleasant to see because of the lack of showmanship from the SFX guy or director. Soon following that scene Paul D is seen fighting the ghost and it doesn’t really seem like a fight more like “table of war.” (Tug of war but with a table) The novel made the fight out to be a bit more dynamic.
Another bothersome scene or rather lack of one would be the reflection scene with Beloved and Denver. In the novel Beloved and Denver are playing in the cold house and then Beloved sees her face in the darkness and says “that’s me.” With the movie they frolic in the cold house and then Beloved just gets angry at Denver when Denver tries to side with her and it ends there. That scene from the novel I believe held a decent amount of significance because it adds the mystery of where Beloved could come from. The novel lays out this mysterious idea of where Beloved could have came from and that allows for a broad range of interpretations such as: a slave ship, hell, another plantation, or anything else.
The scene when Denver is a fearful of leaving the home, the novel depicts Denver to be on the porch ready to go but still afraid to leave. The movie had her in Baby Sugg’s room crying over the torn quilt. Then the ghost of Suggs comes and convinces her to leave. The movie represents Denver as a scared little girl enforcing the philosophy of a meek, defenseless, and weak girl. The novel depicts in this scene as a girl who is willing and with the right amount of push can go but you don’t completely get the sense of mildness as you do the movie.
All and all I think that Beloved the movie was terrible, in the sense of it being a bad movie and the sense of it being a terrible adaptation. The movie leads the viewer a much stronger direction and basically spoon feeds viewers what to think. I highly advise reading the novel then having a very informative discussion before watching this atrocity called a movie.
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