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Produced by Oprah Winfrey, this lush, yet earthy telefilm was adapted from the 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston. Set in rural Florida, the story begins several years after emancipation. Janie (a soulful Halle Berry) is a dreamy-eyed teenager, who never knew her parents. She was raised by the bitter Nanny (Ruby Dee), an ex-slave, who marries her off to an older man the minute she gets the chance. Mr. Killicks works Janie like a dog, but leaves her alone otherwise (he's abusive in the book). Then Janie meets the courtly Joe (Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues), who whisks her away from the muck to the black township of Eatonville. The two proceed to transform the town from a patch of dirt into a real community. Along the way, Joe becomes mayor and Janie a mere helpmate. Except for her friend Phoeby (Nicki Micheaux), the townspeople confuse her sadness for conceit and she ends up lonelier than ever. Twenty years later, Joe dies and Janie takes up with the younger Tea Cake (Michael Ealy, Barbershop). Much like the other literary adaptations with which she's been associated (The Color Purple, Beloved, etc.), this Oprah production boasts an impressive line-up of African-American talent, including Terrence Howard (Crash) as the covetous Amos. A mostly successful mix between suds and substance, Their Eyes Were Watching God, which premiered on ABC, was directed by Darnell Martin, co-written by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan Lori-Parks, and graced with a classy score by frequent Spike Lee collaborator Terence Blanchard. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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 No Tribute to Zora Neale Hurston |
| Review Date: February 14, 2006 |
| Reviewer: bookscout, lafayette, LA |
| After reading the book, I watched the film. What a disappointment the film was. The filmmakers have taken a book that explores the differences between women and men as well as issues of race, prejudice and class difference, and turned it into little more than a formulaic romance novel. I note that most of the reviewers who rated the film highly had not read the book. I encourage you to do so. It is such a rich novel--far richer than the film. What the screenwriter has done is purge the movie of all the more difficult issues the book deals with. Gone is Mrs. Turner's discussion of race and her prejudice against darker-skinned people. Gone is Janie's jealousy as well as the explanation for Tea Cake's violence (of course, Tea Cake's violence is gone, too, because he's supposed to be the romantic hero; romantic heroes can't hit their wives as Tea Cake does in the book). Gone are the conversations on the porch of Joe Starks store. Gone is Nanny's explanation of her reasoning for Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks. It's really too bad that the production company didn't have faith in Zora Neale Hurston's story and felt they had to over-simplify it; I'm sure the audience could have handled it in all its complexity. |
Halle's best work
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| Review Date: March 5, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Beverly, USA |
Oprah is responsible for the filming of this classic and it is a triumph indeed. It is based on the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Harlem Renaissance novelist, Zora Neale Hurston. The reknown Miss Hurston drew colorful depictions of of her community. She used colorful characterizations that illuminated the spitit of the black America.
Halle Berry plays heroine, "Janie", who is African American but actually looks white. Janie Crawford is raised by a strict grandmother she calls "Nanny." Nanny is determined to stamp out Janie's fire by marrying her off early. In my opinion, Berry shines in this role and pulls off Janie's sex appeal and beauty as described in Hurston's book.
Janie's marriage to the elderly first husband ends when she leaves him and walks off with husband number 2, Joe Starks, who promised to "show her the world." Hurston's descriptions of Janie's meticulous second husband is worth noting. We peer into their disagreements about how Janie should appear before the public as the mayor's wife and listen in on the gossip that follows as the townspeople marvel at her transformation into a lady.
Hurston's great dialogue captures the ongoing gossip of the townspeople who are quick to notice when things turn sour in Janie's house-hold. They wonder what she will do with herself when her husband dies, leaving her all his money.
You will champion Janie's strong will to be who she wanted to be and cheer her on as she sheds her mourning clothes and trades them in for pretty dresses, letting her proverbial hair down again!
When a gorgeous drifter by the name of Tea Cake comes to town, you sense what Janie will do once he catches her eye! Janie leaves her home, her business and memories of two stiffling marriages behind to run off with Tea Cake, played brilliantly by Michael Ealy. He and Halle definitely have chemistry on screen!
Of course he can't support Janie so they live off of her money until it runs out. She feels that Tea Cake's love "gave her the world everyday." Things take a turn for the worse when they both get caught in a hurricane and Tea Cake gets bitten by a rabid dog. Janie ends up putting him out of his misery and goes back home to relive her memories, never regretting the decision to live the way she wanted during her brief time with her man.
Rent this DVD and experience Janie's joie de vie in the sensual Juke joints dancing and laughing it up. But have your tissues ready for the tear jerking ending because it will definitely tug at your heart.
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A Woman Figthing to find her True Love
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| Review Date: February 3, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Angie and Beba, |
The movie "Their Eyes Were Watching God" i think deserves a 4 stars even if it had some differences from the book like: they never talk about her trail to see if she was innocent or guilty, Tea Cake never hit her and didn't show jealousy in the movie. In the Movie they didn't have the Characters Mrs.Tuner or her brother. But even all these differences it still had the same feeling as the book. It showed all her 3 husbands how Tea Cake made her feel, how Joe made her wear a rag on her hair, and etc.. This is why the movie deserves a 4 star rating. It changed a few things but it never changed the theme. Thanks for listening to Angie and Beba. |
Their Eyes Were Watching God...NOT!!!
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| Review Date: February 3, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Jamie and Cristina, |
| I didn't enjoy the movie because I expected it to be more like the book which was way more interesting. The book had so much more detail it gave more examples, more to imagine. There's a part in the book were it shows a Ms. Turner, but in the movie there was no Ms.Tuner. Another part is when he has to bury dead bodies it shows nothing about that in the movie. The movie cuts out a lot of parts that were in the book. Maybe if i would of just saw the movie it would have been better, but since I read the book first I expected more scenes. |
Their eyes were watching god
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| Review Date: February 3, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Leo, |
| In the movie their eyes were watching god there were a couple of differences and a couple of similarities. Like in the book and in the movie she had three husbands Logan, Joe and Tea Cake. Some diffrences are that in the movie she wasn't sitting under the pear tree like they described in the book. And in the movie tea cake did't hit her like he did in the book. In the book he didn't gamble the money, he spent it at a party and then got it back by gambling. And ms. turner was never in the movie. I think that the book is much better than the movie because it has more detail. |
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, is one remarkable story
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| Review Date: December 24, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Jenny J.J.I., That Lives in Northern Nevada |
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, is a remarkable story based on the best-selling book by Zora Neale Hurston. Halle Berry stars as the beautiful Janie Crawford, who embarks on an emotional and dramatic journey of self-discovery.
Set in Florida in the 1930's, Janie struggles to satisfy first her grandmother, and then the men in her life. As a half-black, half-white woman, Janie's life was one of new rules and boundaries, new borders and bridges. She is half black and therefore destined to live the life of a black, but she was also half white and she deserved the life of a white. But neither appealed to Janie Her sense of freedom and adventure shaped who she was and who she would become. Throughout this book Janie never gave up her search for love and happiness. And throughout her three marriages she gained a lot of positive experiences.
Her first marriage was to a man named Logan Killicks, and she gained many positive experiences from that marriage. She learned the valuable lesson "that marriage did not make love. Shortly after that she left Logan. She then married a man named Joe "Jody" Starks and she learned a lot from that marriage as well. She learned, for example, that money doesn't equal happiness. Also in that marriage Janie learned to "talk some and leave some." Some things were important enough to fight with Jodie over and some, well most, weren't. He always won the fights so only the most unique matters could or would be quarreled over. Her third marriage was to Teacake, and she learned a lot of positive things from that marriage too. What she learned was the greatest lesson of them all. She learned Love. How to give it, how to receive it and how to express it. She loved him so much that "her soul crawled out from its hiding place," and she was able to begin her dreams once more. She learned how to express her feelings without fear of what would follow them. All of the good, bad, and worse in Janie's life were worth something because she learned from it. She became who she was because of it. Without the hurt and the pain and the heartbreak, she would not have been strong, and had she not been strong, she would have died along side Teacake. But she didn't, she lived on, and though it is not seen that she loved again it was not shown that she didn't keep learning.
This movie has touched me all around and I am happy that I had purchased this DVD. This is a timeless story of passion, romance, and the spirit of love I highly recommend this film.
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Disappointing.
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| Review Date: March 9, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Russell G. Lavoie, Portland, ME |
| This is my favorite book of all time. I'm also a huge fan of Halle and Oprah, but I found this to be a very bad adaptation of the book on many levels. It was just bad. I have no idea how one would receive this movie without reading the book, but it left out so much of the book. It lacked the emotional depth. And the saddest thing is that when I first read this book in 1993 that Halle Berry would make the perfect Janie. I still think I'm right. And the fact that this was done in 2 hour movie was an atrocity. This should have been a miniseries. I still applaud Oprah for bringing Zora's work to the masses. |
Their Eyes Were Watching God
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| Review Date: March 9, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Ella L. Williams, Jeffersonville, IN United States |
| This was an excellent movie. The love between Janie and Teacake is all consuming. It will live with you forever and maybe searching for your own Teacake. I enjoyed each actor in their character roles. The quality of the DVD was superb. I would recommend reading the novel. The title is, "Their Eyes Were Watching God", by Zora Neale Hurston. |
Their Eyes Were Watching God
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| Review Date: February 3, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Yarie, |
| The movie wasn't a good portrayal of the book. It lacked details that were vital to the whole story. When you read literature you are able to grasp the whole story and a portrayal of it could have more details, but it should never lack details. While watching the movie I was able to point out the movies qualities and flaws and how different and alike they were. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" DVD got the basic idea of the book , but the details that are missing give it a two thumbs down on my behalf. In the book when Janie Mae Crawford meets Tea Cake and they begin to become comfortable with each other , Janie leaves behing her mourning in black and starts to wear blue( being that this is Tea Cake's favorite color). In the book this was a way of showing Janies' change in attitude. These details along with many others weren't apart of the movie which threw me off and i truly disliked the movie. Some parts were exaggerated, others just weren't there! |
Well done
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| Review Date: December 26, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Lizzy, |
| Beautiful film, good acting, stays with the original story as well as a movie can. However, I most definitely recommend reading the book first, because there's so much that has to be cut to make the story fit into 2 hours, and no movie could come close to capturing Zora Neale Hurston's amazing use of language. |
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