Based on the book by Toni Morrison, in which a slave is visited by the spirit of her deceased daughter.I love that the cover of the DVD proudly says "from the director of Silence of the Lambs", because these two movies have so much in common. I mean, yes, this one does have some creepy zombie ghost girl and there is a mass murder scene... but I suspect as a whole the overlapping audience is not all that large.The movie is okay. Danny Glover is alright, and Oprah seems to be over-acting much of the time. What I actually had the biggest problem with -- and maybe this will sound stupid -- was the display of teeth. Rows of pearly, beautiful teeth. And I greatly doubt anyone of that time period had such good dental care, let alone the slave population.

Not your typical slavery/segregation film - Beloved follows the life of Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) a runaway slave who has made it out of the South and is now living in a modest house (for that time) with her daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise) in Ohio. For some reason Sethe is haunted by a malevolent entity. It drives her two sons away but it is driven away by an old friend of Sethe's that comes along named Paul D (Danny Glover). Paul D sticks around and soon becomes Sethe's love interest. Things appear to be turning around for the troubled mother until one day a strange young woman shows up. The kind-hearted Sethe takes her in against Paul D's inclination. Shortly after, things begin to turn upside down in the household and Sethe's dark and ugly past catches up with her. I think the film is an excellent combination of a paranormal thriller and period drama. It's hard enough to create a great film in just one specific genre but combining two or more genres is that much trickier. The director, Jonatahan Demme did an excellent job at adapting Toni Morrison's novel into a full feature film. That's why I really don't understand why Beloved didn't do so well at the box office.From the cinematography to the soundtrack, to the script, and to the casting, everything was well done... (Back to the casting.) I think they nailed it with the casting - from Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise and Irma P. Hall (in a small role) - just about every role was match perfectly. Thandie Newton and Kimberly Elise, both little known at the time, gave excellent performances. I really think Kimberly Elise, like the film itself, is a very underrated, underused actress. She's much better than other Black actresses that seem to get all the good roles like Halle Berry, Sanaa Lathan, and Regina King - yes I said it, even HALLE BERRY! It is also great seeing Oprah in a film (you guys should see The Butler), as it seems she only does parts like once a decade. Her and Danny Glover have great chemistry, and seeing them together in another slavery/segregation period piece, you just know Celie and Shug Avery are gonna pop out any minute and it's going to be The Color Purple II. ***Spoiler Alert*** My only grip is that the film moves a bit slow at times, and I felt the character Amy Denver, a white woman from Boston who stumbles upon a pregnant, injured Sethe in route to her escape from a plantation, is a bit too far-fetched. Amy nurses Sethe's blistering feet and helps Sethe reach the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, where she eventually delivers Sethe's baby. Sethe then names the child after the good Samaritan. Not that I don't believe there were Caucasians sympathetic to the black man's (or woman's) plight back then. Nor do I find it hard to believe the same Caucasians would help a black person to freedom in some way if given the opportunity, but for some reason Amy Denver just seemed so out of place and I don't think the story would have suffered any if the character had been written out. ***End Spoiler Alert*** Anyway, if you haven't seen it by now. Do yourself a favor and go rent it or buy it. UNDERRATED UNDERRATED UNDERRATED is all I can say.

The film is undoubtedly necessary to be watched by all Americans. It depicts a significant part of their history, i.e. the brutality of slavery. To put it more precisely, it presents the aftermath of slavery.Although it is impossible for us to understand what a nightmare life without freedom must be, this motion picture may make us partly aware of the immense bestiality of people towards other people at that time. It made me appreciate the fact that I live in a more civilized world in which you are not discriminated only because of the color of your skin. I mean, when such an occurrence does take place, it is officially disapproved and not considered to be normal.Apart from this, the main character demonstrates extremely strong love to her children. However, her former experiences had made her seriously insane. Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) tries to protect them in every possible way, even if her actions are utterly irrational to normal people. Her tragedy is shown in a shocking and somehow touching manner. The supernatural phenomena, amazing music, and extraordinary Thandie Newton's acting (as Beloved) create a stunning impression that will leave no viewer unaffected.I definitely do not recommend this film to those who 'just feel like watching something'. I cannot say that I enjoyed it. However, if you prepare for a heavy but valuable production, you will be satisfied for sure.

Toni Morrison story about a former servant in post-Civil War Ohio, working as a cook and living with her troubled teenage daughter (in a house touched by a spirit from the past), is visited by a man she once knew eighteen years ago as a troubled girl from Kentucky; they forge a loving friendship built upon their memories, but the horrors of their youth sneak back into the yard once a wild child named Beloved shows up and is taken in. Fill-in-the-blanks melodrama moves along fluidly, yet intrinsically keeps tripping itself up. Director Jonathan Demme wants the overstuffed tale to unfold slowly, but by explaining so little about the central characters he risks alienating viewers. Within the first ten minutes, Demme employs a technical effect which looks (and plays) cheap, followed by an outpouring of sorrowful family anger which gets the first act off on the wrong foot. The narrative is, in fact, so fuzzy that we're not sure who Oprah Winfrey's character is, how she makes her living, or what her relationship is with her daughter (who appears disturbed). When the stranger Beloved is readily welcomed by Winfrey into the home, talking in a staccato sing-song, we're not told why. Demme seems to think the mood music and the haunted/loving expression on Winfrey's face will tell us what we need to know, but this backfires (the film is practically intent on shutting out logic, replacing it with soul-bearing emotion). Perhaps in an attempt to retain Morrison's prose, the screenwriters don't allow these people to have normal conversations (it's all steeped in the hypothetical). "Beloved" has an interesting pictorial look, although the cinematography by Tak Fujimoto is too clear and pristine (as was "The Color Purple", for example), and the tidy yards and weathered rooms look too Hollywood. Demme darts about avoiding explanations, while Thandie Newton's Beloved skitters about like a banshee. Winfrey, who also co-produced the movie, gives an uneven performance hindered by the dialogue; her lack of sparkle reminds us she can be a gravely intelligent presence, but her solemn looks of longing don't register anything intriguing (we're supposed to be drawn to this woman because of Winfrey's personality, I assume, yet with Oprah so subdued we're left with nothing but a skin-deep portrait). It's a large-scale failure, a misbegotten venture, with eyes rimmed with tears, mouths torn by grief, hands grasping and clutching. It whips up quite a tempest, yet it is mostly hot air. ** from ****