Drama · History
American
1985 · Directed by Steven Spielberg · 154 min
Georgia, early twentieth century. Celie, a Black girl barely out of childhood, is separated from her sister and handed from her father's house into a marriage she did not choose. Spielberg adapts Alice Walker's novel as a sweeping, emotional drama of endurance, family and finding a voice over several decades.
Why it matters in cinema history
A landmark of mid-1980s Hollywood that brought a Black woman's story to a mainstream audience on a large scale, and a pivotal step in Spielberg's shift toward historical drama.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a director known for spectacle applying his gift for emotion and image to an intimate story, and ask where that polish helps and where it softens.
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