Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day

This Friday, April 13th, 2012, T.D Jakes welcomes a new installment from the Woman Thou Art Loosed series.  This one goes above and beyond its predecessor in quality and message.  Directed by trailblazer and award-winning filmmaker Neema Barnette, WTAL: On The Seventh Day boasts an amazing ensemble of talented actors including Blair Underwood, Sharon Leal, and Pam Grier.  With notable performances by Nicoye Banks, Nicole Beharie, and Reed R. McCants. Each serves the audience true to life suspense, and emotion.  When David and Kari Ames's daughter Mikayla goes missing, this who-done-it masterfully unfolds and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats! WTAL: On the Seventh Day is not only a testament of faith, but a balanced examination of the human spirit, as well as the complexities of perception, and self-imposed condemnation. The biblical scripture, "Let he has not sinned cast the first stone" is absolutely fitting.  However, this is not preachy film. Director Barnette orchestrates this drama/thriller with vigor and eloquence.  She delves into the role power plays in searching for the missing, the true grit of relationships, and the wickedness of deception, against a Louisiana backdrop beautifully captured by Cinematographer Keith L. Smith.  This film is a must see!  You will leave the theater full, yet wanting more!  Sitting in the sold-out audience at the Museum of Moving Image on March 29th, that was the consensus!  As the credits rolled the audience stood and cheered for the cast, crew, TD Jakes, and Neema Barnette - who took the series to a whole new level, and who's accolades are long over due.

This film has a lot of messages and a lot of relatability. It's about navigating your own moral compass. All mowing yourself to forgive yourself and also to forgive others who have wronged you. It's about how without that forgiveness, it weighs down heavy on you. Also about not judging someone by their past. And that no one and nothing is perfect. That's what I took from the film but you may also take different things from this film, but I think one thing is this film will definitely make you reflect on your win decisions and relationships in your own life.

I read about this movie in L.A. Times and then on the Chicago Tribune's website, and I wanted to make sure I supported it. From the trailer, it doesn't look like the typical black film full of stereotypes and a plot that leaves much to be desired. I've been a Blair Underwood fan since I was a kid and think Sharon Leal is a great actress. The movie is about a married couple whose daughter is kidnapped but in order to find out who the criminal is who did it, they are forced to deal with their own deeply hidden secrets. I had my own opinions on who the kidnapper was and I was surprised I was right because I kept second-guessing myself, which is a good thing because a predictable plot is no fun. But the secrets the wife was hiding were definitely unexpected. I wasn't sold on Pam Grier playing the tough cop or her New Orleans accent ("that there" seemed like a stretch), but it was good to see her in a new film. I'll definitely buy the film when it releases and hope that Hollywood will let it show up in more theaters.

The acting for the leads Blair Underwood and Sharon Leal was pretty good although at times he was not so great as I would think there would be more sympathy for his wife. The police officer from her home town was believable. But the rest of the actors were really not very good, often over the top. The female detective was just too much.

And I thought it would have more of a Christian theme but frankly I don't see how that contributed very much at all to the plot. Unfortunately it seemed to just be tacked on, was very superficial. I watch lots of movies that aren't specifically Christian but to seem to be Christian but not really have anything to do with true faith was disappointing.

Pure preachy while being generic at the same time while creating "OHs".

What's the point of this Christian stuff? Its unrealistic and not true Christianity. It doesn't represent the whole religion at all.

I wonder i the producers, actors and writers practice what they produce as seen in this movie?

Verdict: watch when drunk or not at all.