A Raisin in the Sun
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Movie Reviews of A Raisin in the Sun
Movie Review: Great American Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Some stories leaves a great impression on you and this is one of them. The 1961 film version of "A Raisin in the Sun" reassembled the stage cast, with leading actors Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands as well as Poitier. The plays black director was replaced by Columbia Pictures with a white one, but Hansberry wrote the screenplay adaptation of her own work, saying, "Nobody's going to turn this thing into a minstrel show" (Goudsouzian). Hansberry originally toughened the plays script, adding scenes that emphasized the hopelessness of the ghetto environment, for example, one in which Mama Younger's is overcharged while shopping at an inner-city supermarket and one that shows Walter Lee seeking advice from a white store owner about opening his own business and misinterpreting the businessman's personal frustrations as racism. Columbia rejected this material, as well as eliminating black slang like "bread" for "money," saying that additional polarizing issues lessened the white audience's sympathy for the Younger family. The studio was cautious, because bringing the play to the screen was a financial risk, since there would be no bookings, and no revenue, from the South.
Both the play and later the film version of "A Raisin in the Sun" came at a critical time for black Americans. "In 1960, Negroes were quietly asking for their rights. By 1969, blacks were demanding them. The decade moved from the traditional goal of cultural and academic assimilation to one of almost absolute separatism and the evolution of a black cultural aesthetic" (Bogle). Some critics viewed the play as a "soap opera made successful by American's collective guilt over the Negro Question" (Mapp). But Hansberry's goal was to write about "honest to God, believable, many-sided people who happen to be Negroes" (Leab).
The play touched on universal themes: "marital and generational discord, conformity vs. respect for diversity, struggle for women's rights, idealism vs. cynicism, dangers of misdirected ambition and religion vs. atheistic humanism" (Stevens). Mama Younger rules her family with a potent form of passive aggressive love, smothering her family with her affection, but perhaps failing to teach them how to make independent decisions, precipitating a family crisis. Issues of self-improvement, education, Afro-centrism, parenting, and intra-family bullying releases, in turn, each family member's bottled up rage. The themes in A Raisin in the Sun still resonate, as black Americans continue to search for a middle ground between African heritage and slave-descendant personal histories, and to decide how much to either "assimilate" or to reject the values of white society.
In his autobiography, Producer Philip Rose wrote of Hansberry, "she was brilliant, perceptive, incredibly articulate, well-informed in the literature of the theater, and certainly freely expressive of her very strong opinions." Both the stage and screen versions of "A Raisin in the Sun" were turning points in the way African Americans were portrayed: they appeared, for the first time, as three-dimensional human beings. The dialogue and issues that are discussed reinstate the values upon which America was built. I strongly recommend this excellent film.
Movie Review: Color Wish
Summary: 4 Stars
Very satisfied with the product and the service. I wish, though, that it could have been shipped overseas and that I could get a copy in color.Movie Review: Beautiful Portrait
Summary: 5 Stars
This is Mr. Poitier best movie, I don't know why the focus is always on his other "mainstream" movies. But be that as it may, "Raisin in the Sun" is a moving portrait of a black family struggling in America, probably one of our least told stories, at least with diginity & intelligence like this one. Also it looks at the frustration, with no apologies, of the innermost feelings of black men with a business sense who wanted to be totally independent from "servant" jobs.
The story revolves around the death of the father and a 10,000 dollar insurance check his wife gets from the settlement. That's a hell of a lot of money to a family that has been poor and struggling all their lives.
Everyone has an idea of what to do with it, including Poitier's character, who sees it as a chance to go into business for himself and be self-sufficient in supporting the family. This makes for the drama that ensues. I won't spoil the movie, if you haven't seen it.
A point of interest in this film is the younger sister who is vibrant and full of life and wants to become a doctor while struggling to identify with her African roots. This movie should definitely be in every person of color's movie collection. It reflects in pure black and white the emotional toll that ignorance, bias, and racism has heap upon our families, which are breaking up at alarming numbers today. Loved it!
Movie Review: A high point in American cinema
Summary: 5 Stars
For one who has never had the chance to se this luminous film, you have a rare treat in store. Lorraine Hansberry adapted her NY Drama Critics Circle Award-winning drama for the screen in 1961. It is a deeply compassionate film with an ensemble cast unequaled in its day.
Hansberry had the power to translate a black family's struggles into a universal parable that bears repeated viewing for its magnificent dialogue, rich black and white photography and unforgettable performances.
It was the film that launched not only Sidney Poitier's career, and also inspired the start of so many other careers for talented African-Americans. Claudia McNeil's performance is towering as Lena Younger, her final soliloquy ("Have You Cried for That Boy Today?") one of the most moving highlights of the film.
Ruby Dee's nuanced portrayal of Ruth Younger is one in which the actress is completely immersed in her character: beautiful, vulnerable, tenacious. Even when the script calls for Ruth to be resigned, grief-stricken or fatigued, she is infused with life and is always very, very beautiful.
Diana Sands also delivers a bravura role as Lena's headstrong daughter, providing much of the comic relief in the script.
The pacing of Daniel Petrie's direction is flawless and Lawrence Rosenthal's musical score heartrending.
My only complaint is that Columbia Pictures has not yet released a fully-remastered, two disc special edition of this historic film. The package provides a "widecreen" version of the film on one side and a full-screen version on the other. The film source run on the full-screen side is slightly off-speed, painfully evident inmusical pitch of the main title. So buyers should just move to the wide-screen side, which
has a warmer transfer with the source film running on-speed. I can only imagine the gifts Criterion collection would bestow on this timeless work.
One of my top-20 for over thirty years.
Movie Review: magnificent and thought-provoking film.....
Summary: 5 Stars
This adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's compelling play is marvelously executed. Credit goes in no small part to the wonderful cast (Sidney Poitier as the mercurial Walter Lee Younger, the legendary Ruby Dee as his wife, Ruth, Diana Sands as his spirited sister, Beneatha, and Claudia McNeil as the matriarch, Lena Younger).
RAISIN is centered on the Younger family. When Lena Younger, the mother and head of the family, is widowed, she is left with $10,000.00 in insurance money. The family must decide how to spend the inheritance. It is between funding her daughter, Beneatha's education and purchasing a house for the family. Walter Lee wants to invest part of the inheritance in a business (specifically, a liquor store).
This film examines the African-American experience in 1950s Chicago, where racial tensions are strong (and remain so today). There is also an underlying examination of the strain existing in the African-American experience in the United States (specifically, in the experiences and conflicts in the identity of Beneatha, Walter Lee's younger sister). An example of the tension between the African and African-American experience is really illustrated in Beneatha's interest in African culture and her commitment to establishing pride in her identity. This play is truly a groundbreaking, important and truly original look at the African-American experience. I really reccomend that everyone see it! This is also a great introduction to legendary actors, Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee.