For Colored Girls: The TP version

       I saw For Colored Girls twice...I might just go and see it again. I tend to get a different understanding and notice similarities/differences between the book/play/film. First off congratulations to Tyler Perry for bringing such a moving and somewhat untold story of Colored Girls worldwide to the widescreen.  However after I saw the movie the first time I felt empty, as if the film was not complete and there would be a part two. So you didn't feel that way either? Were you not confused with the placement of some of the poems and the colors of the characters. For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuff (original book) consists of 20 poems and focuses on the lives of seven ladies who are only known by colors.
       These seven women tell the stories of rape, abuse and abortion to name a few. Now in the book Lady in Red deals with the abusive relationship, however in the film Janet plays Lady in Red and Kimberly Elise is the one in the abusive relationship. I can see the symbolism with Janet being red simply because of the HIV outcome. Other than that I am clueless as to why it was switched around. I loved Whoopi's role though...oh yeah and did she have to say "he told me I was ugly"...? That line alone reminded me of the Color Purple and how Whoopi might possibly have to carry that around with her forever. But hey she is getting paid to be ugly so go on Whoopi! I related her hoarding habits in her house to the hoarding in her life. Meaning her house was full of clutter, boxes that she didn't want moved and was deeply attached to. Her life was full of old feelings of resentment towards her children that she could not move past and it showed when she spoke with them.
      Whoopi's character also played on the spiritual side of Colored Girls. She relied heavily on religion to guide her daughter and her life, whenever things went wrong she would shout up a religious chant and yell for them to repent.  Just like the boxes that she couldn't seem to move out of the house, she could not forgive her father for what he did to her and allowed that to take up space in her heart to love her children unconditionally.  I loved Phylicia Rashad's character! Nosey neighbor with the loving heart of wisdom and guidance. She was so conveniently placed in between two troubled lives/apartments and gave them the wake up call that they so badly deserved and needed.
      But on the other hand why was Janet's character portrayed as a typical Tyler Perry female? Did she have to be that bitch that worked in corporate America and didn't care about the struggle the black man was going through or better yet her own people? It took for tragedy to strike to open her eyes to what was going on around her. Speaking of men...the book had no men that played major roles but the film (in my opinion) had the men as the root of all the problems. It seemed as if the man was the reason why the women suffered and could not come to terms with their reality. Eh that was a Tyler fail to me.  Like Loretta Devine who I assumed was lady in green...haha I loved her! Especially her poem "My Stuff", the symbolism in that poem to a man walking away with everything that the woman had. In the end she realized she wanted her stuff, meaning her back.
      Overall I will give the movie a B-, I loved it but wish it could have been stronger in certain areas.