Blogging By Cinema-light: Don't Make a Scene: The Color Purple

The Story: The Color Purple was a big leap for director Steven Spielberg. First off, he didn't want to do it. More accurately, when he was approached by Executive Producer Quincy Jones, he didn't think he was the right director for it—he felt an African-American director should helm it. He also thought that he wasn't well enough acquainted with Southern culture to make it feel authentic.

Novelist Alice Walker ddn't want him to do it, either...until she saw his E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial. Quincy Jones maintained that if Spielberg didn't direct it, it wouldn't get made. All interesting arguments. Spielberg—whose last film was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and had been spending his time developing his "Amazing Stories" TV show—left enough of his gee-whizzery behind, but still maintained a Master's flair for story-telling.

As today's scene demonstrates.

Usually, when directors do this sort of cutting back and forth, they do a 1 to 1 kind of relationship: the tea-kettle screams/cut to a train whistle belching steam. It's a bit obvious and a little annoying...like someone just noticed you can make so obvious a transition.

But, the Spielberg sequence of Celie discovering what is contained in her sister's long-hidden letters to her is almost all transitions. Transitions that tenuously connect the long-separated sisters, whether it be the glaring sun that they both share hemispheres away, or the rhythms of roof-leaks into pots and pans into tribal rhythms, it shows the character of Celie lost in the ever-more-sophisticated language of her sister's writing, and having it inform her life, as well. The transitions are nearly seamless on first viewing; subsequent watches will show edits on shots of elephants and trucks, but the transition of Celie reading in church while parish celebrants slowly fade from her attention is visually stunning. You just know at these moments that the rest of the world fades away from the contents of those letters.

Say what you will about Spielberg's appropriateness to direct this one, but he sure knew how to.

The Set-Up: After a life-time of abuse, Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) has found a small comfort from the constant Hell of life as the married slave of M.R. Johnson (Danny Glover). She has discovered that he has hidden letters sent to her from her beloved sister Nettie (Akosua Busia), who was banished from the house after she fought off a sexual assault. Finally, Celie is able to read those letters, which she does whenever she has a moment to herself.

Action.

DISSOLVE TO: EXT. M.R.'S HOUSE - PORCH - GEORGIA SUNSET

Celie sits on the porch. She SEES Mr. and Harpo working in the distance.

She pulls a letter from her dress and begins to read.

~~NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.)~~ CELIE (READING) Dear Celie,

~~NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.)~~ CELIE (READING) the reason I am in Africa is because...

~~NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.)~~ CELIE (READING) ...one of the missionaries that was supposed to go with

~~NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.)~~ CELIE (READING) Corrine and Samuel to help with the children and setting up school suddenly married a man ...

CELIE (READING) and NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.) and I came in her place.

I wrote you a letter to you almost every day on the ship.

CELIE's voice fades and NETTIE's voice becomes prominent as CELIE stops reading aloud.

NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.) On my first sight of the Africa coast, something struck in my soul, Celie

Celie looks up from her letter at the fiery Georgia sunset.

CELIE'S POV

The red orb of the setting sun.

NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.) ...like a large bell. And I just vibrated.

Then, suddenly ...

a quartet of giraffes gallop silhouetted across the sun.

Nettie runs across the red orb of the sun.

She is still 14, for that is the way CELIE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HER.

CELIE rocks in her chair.

NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.) It has been a long time since I had...

NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.)...time to write. But, always...

NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.) No matter what I'm doing...

CELIE's POV -

Angle on MR. Mr. and Harpo walk up the porch steps and so Mr. rises in front of the African sun.

NETTIE (Age 14 V.O.) I'm writing you...dear C...

MR. ~~Hey~~ Celie, ~~what about~~ gimme a cold drink?

ANOTHER ANGLE

Celie gets up from her chair and closes the screen door behind her

with a bang.

Mr. looks at Harpo as if to say "what's her problem?"

EXT. LAKE - DAY

The whole extended family is having a picnic. Harpo, Jack and Odessa are barbequing hot dogs and hamburgers. Mr. and Grady are fishing at the other end of the lake (and paying more attention to the bottle of whiskey than to the fish). Shug is teaching Squeak some blues standards, while Swain strums the guitar. Right near them a church picnic is going on, which includes the preacher, Loretta and her ladies, and the rest of the congregation (about 40 people). When the preacher hears Shug and Squeak sing the blues, he sends a withering glance and she stops singing, only Squeak continues. The preacher and the church ladies start up a hymn. Celie sits by herself on a blanket and unfolds another letter. She gets up. She walks away from the others.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) Olinka is four days march through the bush from the harbor.

ANGLE ON CELIE 148

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) Do you know what a jungle is?

She walks by some bushes. The lake lies in the BG where we SEE the family having a picnic. The bushes grow denser as Celie walks by them, reading the letter as she goes.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) Well, there are trees and more trees on top of that.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) And big. They look so big, like they were built.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) And vines and ferns.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) And animals. And noises.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) That make you wonder...

Celie looks up at the Georgia ferns.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) What is lurking there behind the shadows...

CELIE'S POV She SEES something move in the ferns. She hears a crackling of twigs.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) ...of that big bush?

ANGLE ON CELIE Her eyes as big as saucers.

CELIE'S POV - ANGLE ON THE BUSH The bush is green and dense.

Twigs and branches crackle as

an elephant lumbers through the bush.

ANGLE ON NETTIE (14 years old), SAMUEL, OLIVIA, ADAM, and CORRINE (little children). They watch the elephant coming through the bush at a safe distance. Their porters point excitedly at the elephant. Nettie has her arm protectively around Adam and Olivia, whose eyes are as big as saucers.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) We're up at five o'clock for a light...

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) ...breakfast of millet, porridge and fruit and the morning classes.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) We teach the children English, readin'

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) ...writin', history, geography, arithmetic, and the stories...

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) ...of the Bible.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) Some of the...

EXT. BUSH - GEORGIA - DAY

CELIE'S POV - ANGLE ON THE BUSH

Twigs CRACKLE as a pheasant runs through the undergrowth-

ANGLE ON CELIE

She jumps back from the bush and holds her heart as she watches the pheasant run. Celie puts the letter in her pocket. She walks back to the lake.

EXT. MR.'S HOUSE - PORCH - EARLY MORNING

It's raining. Celie sits in her favorite chair and pulls out another letter.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) ...older children are used to coming to the

mission school, but the smaller ones are not.

She begins to read, but her attention wanders to the tin cans that are placed under the leaks in the porch roof.

NETTIE (14 year V.O.) Their mothers sometimes drag 'em here, kickin' and screamin.' They're all boys. Olivia is the only girl.

CELIE'S POV - ANGLE ON THE TIN CANS

The rain drips into the tin cans and makes a pleasant, almost melodic sound.

INT. HUT - AFRICA - MORNING ANGLE ON DRUMS

The drums are sonorous and are in the exact rhythm as the rain dripping into the tin cans.

ANOTHER ANGLE

We are in the hut of the elders where the young boys of the tribe are being taught how to play the drums.

EXT. VILLAGE - DAY Olivia and a young African girl, TASH!, are standing outside the hut of the elders and watch the little boys inside. Olivia makes a move to go inside, but one of the elders wags his finger at her. It's quite clear that this is taboo for girls.

NETTIE (V.O.) There is a little African girl called Tashi,

NETTIE (V.O.) and she plays with Olivia after school.

NETTIE (V.O.) ..."Whv can't Tashi come to school?"...

NETTIE (V.O.) ...she asked me. When I...
NETTIE (V.O.) ...told her that the Olinka don't believe in educating girls,

NETTIE (V.O.) she said quick as a flash, "They are like...

NETTIE (V.O.) ...white people at home...

NETTIE (V.O.) ...who don't want black people to learn".

Tashi and Olivia run to a hut.

NETTIE (V.O.) Oh, she is sharp, Celie.

INT. HUT - DAY

Olivia and Tashi sit in a hut covered with little strips of paper. A chair is labeled "Chair" in Olinka. The tabie is labled "Table" in Olinka. And on the entrance there are three pieces of paper. One that reads "Door" in Olinka, one that reads "Sky" in Olinka, and one that reads "Sun" in Olinka.

NETTIE (V.O.) Whenever Tashi can get away from the chores her mother assigns her,

NETTIE (V.O.) she and Olivia ~~secret~~ hide themselves in my hut.

NETTIE (V.O.) For Olivia right now, she alone is Africa.

NETTIE (V.O.) and everything she learns she shares with Tashi ....
NETTIE (V.O.) Sound familiar?

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY

Celie has just left the village and walks toward Mr.s house by the side of the road with two grocery bags under her arms. In the unforgiving light of the afternoon sun we see how working on Mr.'s farm has aged her. Her hair is graying, she has squint lines around her eyes, and her hands are gnarled from washing and plowing.

NETTIE (V.O.) Five whole years have gone by and the first thing I should tell you about is the road.

o.s. Celie hears the digging of shovels and the sound of a work song.

She SEES a chain gang working on the side of the road (made up of mostly black prisoners). They are straightening out the railroad tracks.

They sing a work song (WE HEAR AN AFRICAN BEAT IN TEE DISTANCE) while their white overseers and black trustees stand by.

NETTIE (V.O.) At first,

NETTIE (V.O.) there was the faintest sound of movement in the forest.

NETTIE (V.O.) A kind of low hummin'.

NETTIE (V.O.) Then there was choppin' and the sound of draggin'.

NETTIE (V.O.) Then, the scent. Some days there's smoke.

NETTIE (V.O.) Now, after two months, during which...

CUT TO: EXT. AFRICA THE AMERICAN WORK SONG MINGLES WITH AN AFRICAN WORK SONG.

Native BLACKS are using shovels and trucks to build a road in the jungle, and sing AN AFRICAN WORK SONG while their WHITE overseers stand by.

NETTIE (V.O.) I or the children or Corrine has been sick,

NETTIE (V.O.) all we hear is choppin' and scrapin' and draggin'. And everyday, we smell smoke.

NETTIE (V.O.) Today, one of the boys in my afternoon class burst out as he entered.

NETTIE (V.O.) "The road approaches! The road approaches!"

INT. GEORGIA CHURCH - DAY

THE RYTHMIC HAND-CLAPPING OF THE OLINKA MEN -

SOUND OVER ANGLE ON THE CONGREGATION As THEY CLAP THEIR HANDS as the preacher sways back and forth.

ANGLE ON CELIE

She sits as far away from Mr. as possible and stares at her open prayer book.

ANGLE ON THE PRAYER BOOK

The prayer book hides another letter from Nettie.

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) Dear Celie. The white man is building a road,

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) and it finallv reached

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) the Casaba fields about nine months ago:

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) Well, the morning after the road was finished, as far as Olinka was concerned,

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) what should we discover but that the road builders were back at work!

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) They have instructions to continue to build the road another 30 miles

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) and continue it on its present course

right through the village.

ANGLE ON THE PREACHER He leads the congregation into the most MOURNFUL GOSPEL SONG.

CELIE'S POV - ANGLE ALTAR INT. CHURCH - AFRICA SOUND OVER: GEORGIA MOURNFUL GOSPEL SONG. ANGLE ON THE ALTAR.

A truck drives through the wall and flattens the altar.

EXT. VILLAGE - DAY SOUND OVER: GEORGIA GOSPEL

A bulldozer flattens the school building.

Samuel, Nettie and Corrine run towards the school building.

They are followed by Adam, Tashi, and Olivia, who are all teenagers now.

Soldiers with rifles push Samuel and Nettie back.

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.)The road builders didn't deviate an inch
NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) from the plan the Big Man was following.
NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) Every hut that lay in the proposed road-path...

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) ...was leveled.

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) And, Celie, our church,

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) our school,

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) my hut,

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) all went down in a matter of hours.

A soldier shoves Tashi as she tries to place herself in front of the bulldozer. Enraged, Adam punches one soldier. Only Samuel's imposing presence keeps Adam from getting beat up.

Adam has his arm protectively around Tashi's shoulders as she watches the building being leveled.

EXT. GROVE - AFRICA SOUND OVER: OLINKA CHANT OF MOURNING MINGLES w:TH GEORGIA GOSPEL SONG. GEORGIA GOSPEL FADES.

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) But the worst has yet to be told.

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) Sweet Corrine died from fever and grief

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) and we buried her in the Olinka way.

Four Olinka men hold Corrine's bodv up. She is wrapped in bark cloth. Samuel, leaning on Nettie, Olivia, Adam and Tashi (who comforts Adam) follow. They are dressed in white native robes and their faces are painted white.

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) But, Celie,

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) my dear, sweet sister,

NETTIE (14 year old V.O.) ...we'll all be coming home soon if we can work something out with the United States Immigration, cause they don't know if we're American or African, or missionary.

The Olinka follow the procession SINGING A NATIVE SONG OF MOURNING. They bury Corrine under a tree.

ANGLE ON ADAM, TASHI, (Teenagers), NETTIE (14 years old) AND SAMUEL Their tears streak the white paint on their faces as they watch Corrine's body being laid to rest.