Their Eyes Were Watching God

If one has not read the book _Their Eyes Were Watching God_, then the movie was probably wonderful. Unfortunately, for those who have read the book, it is obvious that the screenplay writer missed some important aspects of the book-- or for some reason chose to omit them. The plot in the movie revolves around Janie and her love affairs, however, what is most important to Janie, in the book, is feeling loved and accepted not only by a man, but her community.

Janie is a "light-skinned" African American and is treated different because of it. The book addresses a caste system that was prominent at the time that Hurston wrote the book. This important aspect of the story was not addressed in the movie. This is just one of many "aspects" that was not addressed.

On the up side, the casting is superb. Halle Berry is perfect for the part of Janie. She is beautiful and strong while being sensitive and vulnerable. Michael Ealy is a wonderful Tea Cake. What chemistry!

All in all the movie is-- OK. Hopefully, it will entice the viewers to read Zora Neale Hurston's fabulous book.

This movie was terrible! I just finished reading the book and I was really looking forward to seeing the movie, needless to say I was very disappointed! So much of the book was left out. Excuse me, but where was Mrs. Turner?! In the book she is described as being extremely ignorant and I did find her annoying, but her character should have been included in the movie! 2nd of all, what happened to Janie's trial? did Oprah just happen to forget about that? Also, in the book Janie is married to Tea Cake for 20+ years, but the movie made it seem like she was married to him for 10 minutes! The movie was extremely boring and I kept saying to myself "maybe it will get better" but it never did. Halle Berry was the wrong person for the role, I know some people on this board think Lynn from "Girlfriends" would have been best and maybe she would have, but I think Jada Pinkett would have been the perfect choice. Jada is a very underrated, but excellent actress (much better than Halle in my opinion). Many times during the movie, I felt like I was watching soft porn. The part where Halle and Michael Ealy put their tongues together? ugh! was that necessary? I was so disgusted at that point, I turned the channel. I want to remake the movie!!!!!!!! If I remade it the actors/actresses I would cast would be as follows:

Janie-Jada Pinkett Logan-same man who was in Oprah's version. Jody Starks-Danny Glover Tea Cake-The star of "Antwone Fisher" sorry, cant remember his name. Phoeby-Maybe Gabrielle Union, the woman in Oprah's version had no charisma.

This is the worst adaptation of a book ever and I am so disgusted with this movie that I am going to try to remake it myself! If anyone does it before me, I will be just as happy, as long as its better than this junk. But this time Ithey should make it into a mini series and it should be on HBO!

Well, I can admit when I am wrong and I was wrong about Halle Berry's performance. Halle was incredible as the head strong Janie Crawford and Michael Ealy added some sexy sizzle to the drifter Tea Cake. I really was impressed with the chemistry Berry and Ealy had it seemed so real. Also, I loved the production from the beautiful Florida Everglades, to the rural Eatonville town. The clothing was great as well. I also must thank. Ms. Oprah Winfery for once again bringing the rich African American literature to the masses in America. Zora Neale Hurston must also be thanked for discussing the sexism, and the patriarchy that affected black women in the early 20th century. Zora's novel is not just an American classic people from all over the African Diaspora and the world thank Ms. Hurston for her work. She will never be forgotten.

I've read the book and seen the movie; the book is better. To do justice to the book, the movie should have been in two parts, the first could have focused on Janie's childhood and youth and her life with Joe Starks and the second could have focused on her life with Tea Cake. I knew I'd have problems with the movie when Oprah introduced the movie by talking about Janie kissing Tea Cake. No movie could include everything in the book, but by leaving out Janie's family history, we don't get a clear idea why Nanny forces Janie to marry Logan Killicks. In the novel, the people in Eatonville are complex and interesting people. In the movie, they are reduced to clichés. Don't any of the work? Sorry, but race is an important part of the book and there should have been a way to include this in the movie. Mrs. Turner and the trial are important parts of the novel; the movie was a Lifetime feature. Halle Berry doesn't have the acting chops to play Janie. She looked the same from beginning to end. Put a little dirt on her and she still looks good. The scenes in the Glades were awful. Unlike, the novel, there was no sense of the people working. The movie gives the impression that these people spend most of their time singing and dancing in camp. Talk about a cliché. In the novel Janie makes a choice to go work with Tea Cake; in the movie it was Halle going slumming. The end of the novel is grabs you; the movie's end was laughable. By the way, I don't think the novel is anti-male or anti-white. Oprah said that Zora Neale Hurston was going to let out a shout. Yes and the shout would be "Orpah you ruined my novel!" Orpah made a movie called "Their Eyes Were Watching Halle." I hope someday, someone will make a real movie of "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

If this movie is your first introduction to Zora Neale Hurston's Masterpiece called Their Eyes Were Watching God, then you owe it to yourself to read the book. In fact, it's the only way you'll truly be transported to the another time and place. The television movie didn't even begin to capture the spirit of the book. This book wasn't about a great romance. It was about a woman's self discovery. First off, it's pretty obvious that more than two and a half hours were needed to adequately tell Janie's story. Because the filmmakers didn't take the time, viewers were left with a fast-paced, glossed over, cliff note version of Janie's life. I won't spoil anything if I say viewers were left with big gaping holes specifically what drove this central character. What about Janie's background made her make the choices she made? Most glaring, is it possible to span more than 20 years and not get even a wrinkle? Come on! How can a character look exactly the same at the end of a movie as she did at the beginning? especially after enduring such hardships. I'll admit my stomach turned flips when I found out this picture was being made. Our works of literature are precious and they should be treated as such. If you can't make it better, then leave it alone. Zora deserved better!