Movie Review: “For Colored Girls”

Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, Thandie Newton, Tessa Thompson, Kerry Washington, Kimberly Elise, and Janet Jackson

Director: Tyler Perry

Reviewed by Ajané Searcy, 17
Massachusetts

Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls hit theaters on November 5, 2010. Working as the director, Tyler Perry created the adaptation of Ntozake Shange's 1975 collection of poems, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

This film is very different from Perry's previous movies, because poetry is used throughout the film, rather than the typical dialogue we see in a movie. Also, For Colored Girls highlights an all-female cast in the lead roles. The women's lives cross paths as the movie touches on deep topics including rape, abuse, infidelity, abortion, and death.

I truly loved this movie. From the beginning, it had me hooked -- from the emotions it caused to the melodic style of poetry the actresses use in their stories.

Seeing this movie has made me look at people in a different way. It made me stop and think before judging someone I don't know, and makes me ask, "What is this person going through that I may have no idea about?"

For Colored Girls taught me a lot about women and the amazing power that we all possess. I do not believe that the movie is meant to stereotype the lives of African American women, but simply to show the situations that many women, of all races, have to deal with in their lives.