Their Eyes Were Watching God

Before I start I have to say that I did not read the book. I am now on the prowl to purchase the book so all I can say in response to the movie is I liked it!!! I thought that Halle did a good job with the character as the character was described to me. I do know that it is quite difficult to ever create a movie that compares to a book anytime. Thousand of people have tried and nearly all of them have failed. Having read the book before the movie automatically set the movie up for failure. Having seen the movie and heard about the book it is now making me want to read the book. So you cannot say that the movie failed that bad if myself and other people I know who saw the movie all want the book. It is also kind of harsh to say that the movie was that awful, it was a love story and that was what was portrayed. When I was done watching that movie I was in love with the characters, I did not see Halle's character as a sleep around or whatever you called her. She was set up with an old man and she left, I would have done the same thing acres of land or not. She was with her 2nd husband until the end even though she was unhappy. And then my man Michael Ealy came and that was it. Dark or light who cares, I sure did not!!! It is a movie and if you are not familiar with Hollywood looks matter, if Halle's character was supposed to have been unattractive she still would have been beautiful for the movie it is just the way it is! Also both actors did a phenomenal job and I did not know that Michael Ealy was actually that good of an actor and I think this role will help him. Now who know I may change my mind after reading the book but I doubt it for the simple fact that if it was not for this movie I would have probably never bought the book!!! You go Oprah this movie was great!!! Two thumbs up!

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.

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!

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."

I am a Black woman and I have read Their Eyes Were Watching God many times, most recently when I learned that Oprah Winfrey and ABC were presenting the television movie. I was absolutely horrified at what I saw on Sunday. Halle Berry simply did not do justice to the character she sought to portray. Janie Crawford is a dignified, free spirited, intelligent, strong character. The portrayal presented on ABC was insulting to the memory of Zora Neale Hurston in that Berry played Janie as a flighty, promiscuous, immodest tart who went off with whatever man appealed to her at any given moment. And to add insult to injury, Suzan Lori Parks neglected to adequately address a number of the important issues raised by Ms. Hurston, specifically the issues of skin tone and class among Black folks. How could Michael Ealy possibly play Tea Cake, who Ms. Hurston wrote as a dark skinned Black man, not the perpetually sweaty, open-shirted, light-skinned, mumbling buffoon presented to us on Sunday? I watched the movie with four other Black people, two men and two women. No one had anything positive to say about the movie. I held on as long as I could, but after two hours, I had to agree with my fellow viewers: the movie was horrible. Shame on all involved who had any sort of creative control over this debacle. May Hurston haunt you until you know better.