Woman Thou Art Loosed

When my girlfriend dragged me to this movie, I went with her to treat her to part of her Birthday present; but secretly, I was dreading to see this movie. I thought that here's another "Christian" made production, many of which seem to suffer from lack luster acting and weak direction.

None of those elements exist in this riveting drama based on the composite experiences of various women encountered by TD Jakes through out his ministry. From the stunning beginning of the movie to its hopeful and heart warming end, I was enthralled by the very realistic characters(especially the main character), their various struggles, and their varying Faith, or lack there of, in God.

This movie does not milk-toast the church or sugar coat those who are True Believers, but shows us for what we truly are; real sinners saved continually by real Amazing GRACE and the Great Mercy of God.

For those who think you have to be lilly white to be accepted by God, I highly recommend this movie as a big dose of reality. But for those who just see the church as full of hypocrites, you'll come away with an appreciation for how much God loves us imperfect beings and why the Church is full of us!

I really enjoyed the movie and got a chance to see Bishop TD Jakes from a different perspective. I believe this is the side of ministers that we don't see, where they visit the sick, prisoners, etc. And unless we have a crisis in our family probably will never see. Since I missed the first few moments I was a little confused by what was going on since the scenes jumped from the jail cell to the church to the past. However, the plot is not hard to follow. The characters were all great and did an excellent job in there parts.

I sure many feel its a movie for women and that is not necessarily so. After watching the movie I am definitely interested in reading the book.

Renowned minister and author Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House of Dallas, Texas has brought to screen his best-selling novel that has been a major hit amongst women in his ministry for nearly 10 years. Written at a time in his life when he doubted if he could (read: should) be the 'voice' of the forgotten women, the broken woman, the fallen woman, ...the woman that is often invisible in most church congregations, after the release of his novel, the overwhelming answer was 'preach on, T.D., preach on'. And preach he did, to thousands in his Woman Thou Art Loosed conventions all across the country to sold out stadiums. It's not really a surprise when one knows the history of the journey that this project would be his first feature film effort. Some might argue that this is his most anointed work, especially given the numbers that most lower income minority households now are single parent households and that translates more than likely to often being led by mothers. What happens when these 'mothers' fall into hopeless situations that seem outside the confines of the normal assistance that most churches are only equip to handle? It's in that chasm that Bishop Jakes found his voice.., and calling.

Woman Thou Art Loosed, the movie, is an ambitious project. Well written, and acted by a stellar cast (more on that later), it only suffers from a few minor problems that are mostly cinematic issues. The lighting throughout the movie was uneven and could have benefited from an overall continuity of theme, but all in all, this problem is minor in contrast to the action and dialogue on the screen. The outstanding casting of Kimberly Elise as the troubled lead, Michelle Jordan, who opens this movie, pistol in hand, in the midst of an altar call at a revival meeting of Bishop Jakes, is both tragic and heroic as you learn of her desperation to make sense of her life's choices and conflicts. Kimberly brings a new definition to pathos, and in several scenes proves that she's an actress of great skill and technique, while never allowing the mechanics to be noticed. Adept at emoting with just a look or turn of her brow, she breathes life into Michele's often difficult and challenging scenes with the ease of someone who's really been 'there' in the depths of despair. At it's core, WTAL is a love story. Love gone bad, love gone wrong, love unrequited and love never fully developed. Michelle wants her mother, Cassie, to love her, to see her and acknowledge her. Formidable actress Loretta Devine, portrays a mother that needed mothering, and unfortunately can't give to her daughter what she's never experienced. Failing her daughter at a most critical moment in their journey, creates the rift between mother and daughter and sets into motion that incredible opening scene. Pay close attention to the scenes that include these two actresses, together, for a master's class in scene study.

But make no mistake, the heartbeat of this film is Bishop Jakes and his sermons. Whether being delivered in the pulpit or in a prison cell, his message of restoration is ever present. The moments that soar in this film are those that center on his fiery, common-sense sermons and his ability to touch the very core of issues in simple and succinct analogies. Much more could have been made of these moments and I think the direction in the services suffered a bit, but then again, how do you really direct the holy spirit? Director Michael Schultz is legendary and yet this might be the problem: his style is a little dated and isn't as edgy as some of the more modern films of our times. That being said, I did appreciate his use of the close-up that allowed us to 'see' every nuance of emotion.

It might prove a little difficult to find this film, but it's worth a diligent search. If for no other reason, for the sheer inspiration of the story and to observe major talent acting for once in material that they obviously believe in. I sensed that many of those tears that were shed, weren't all about the characters they were inhabiting. More than a few actors were most likely 'loosed' in the process, as well. It's that powerful of a movie. Highly recommended.

If you loved DEAD MAN WALKING as much as I did, then you'll also appreciate this prison-set film based on a book and a play by AME Bishop Jakes. Like Matthew Poncelet in Sr. Prejean's story, this one features a character who is a composite of several real life abused women whom the good bishop ministered to through the years. Michelle is on death row when Bishop Jakes visits her. At first she almost ignores him as she works on a model house made up of match sticks or small pieces of wood. She had not expected him to come, he being so big time--his face was on the cover of TIME Magazine--but it soon appears that their paths have crossed before and that her mother is one of the clerks who works in his evangelism campaign. Before going any further I should reassure any readers made nervous by the fact that a real-life bishop is a main character, that this is not one of those syrupy Billy Graham films. It is an unabashedly religious, no, a Christian film, but it is gritty in its realistic detailing of drug addiction, child abuse, prostitution and such, well deserving of its R rating. It is a compelling story of a woman's descent into hell and of her slow journey back. The cast is excellent, with Bishop Jakes playing himself--not just in the pulpit, but in some intense scenes in Michelle's prison cell that demand more than pulpit oratory. In another life he could have made it as an actor. The crew members are all Hollywood pros, so the production values are excellent. A neat symbol is the house on which Michelle labors so long over--it is the last thing we see before the fade to black and the credits roll, so it serves as a good symbol (far better than the full scale house in LIFE AS A HOUSE). There are plenty of interesting male, as well as female characters, so you shouldn't look at this as a "woman's film," nor as an African American one. Exploring the terrible damage those close to us can do to one another, and of the almost impossibility of forgiveness, it's a film that I will be thinking about for some time to come.

I have never cried so much in my lifetime. The characters in this movie were so close in name as well as in nature that I felt I needed to write and tell the world. I am Michelle and I created my own prison for myself by not forgiving, let alone knowing how to forgive. All I wanted was for my mother to believe what happened to me and do something about it instead of accusing me. Like Michelle, I also was not believed, but told not to say anything to anyone. I was killing myself by eating excessively, and not trusting or forgiving anyone. My drug was sleeping around to try to make myself feel better and feel accepted. And twenty+ years later, I still don't feel any better. I could not stop crying. Something deep inside me said get up and write this down so someone else could see that they are not the only ones going through something difficult. I can honestly say that I have not survived my past. I am still imprisoned. The house that Michelle built is the house that I still reside in (no doors). I must tell anyone who is reading this, that the situation alone will take away so much from you. I have lost the strong relationship that I could have had with my own daughter. I love my daughter, but find it hard to be close to her. I feel like I am a functioning zombie. What makes me strong is that I can talk about it now. It took someone very close to me to make me write it down. He said if you cant confront the person then write it down and it will make you feel like you have told the person. Afterwards, he said mail it or throw it away. For all that good advice that I was given that day, I wrote the letter and I still look at it from time to time. I sent it to my mother expressing my feelings, but like Michelle's mother - no "I'm sorry" or "I should have believed you". My dilemma is that I cant seem to get that door opened. I am tired of holding onto this pain. I will get the help that I need, but for today I feel good just being able to say that I still have the opportunity to get the help I need. One day, I will be able to forgive my mother and the rapist, but not today.