BEFORE I MET HIM, I WAS told he was the “life of the party.” He was part of a couple who was joining us for dinner. They were invited by mutual friends of ours; I had no reason to object. We met at a restaurant that was centrally located for all of us, we all arrived around the same time. His reputation turned out to be true; he was friendly and jovial, cracking jokes and telling humorous stories throughout the meal. I noticed his wife was not laughing as much, keeping her gaze down towards her food. My first thought was that she has heard these stories and jokes a thousand times. When there were moments of conversation, without his joking, I asked her a couple of questions to get a sense of what she was like and noticed before she answered she always shot a glance at her husband. It appeared to me she was either seeking his approval or checking to see if his mood was changing. Through the evening she was never forthcoming with conversation; she would only speak if spoken to and nothing more except a polite smile or the nod of her head to a comment. I felt a bit uncomfortable from it but did not want to ask any prying questions.      THROUGH THE MEAL, THERE WERE A few stories the husband said that I had to question to see if they were true. He mentioned he traded in his wife’s car for a different make and model. She discovered the change when she came home from work. I thought it was odd, so asked her if she had planned to get a new car. She, of course, looked at him before turning to me to say she was pleasantly surprised when she came home and saw the new car. That did not really answer my question, which made me more curious. From some of the other stories he talked about, I instead asked my friend if they were true, when we had a private moment. She said yes; the husband was always doing things without consulting with his wife. For example, he withdrew a hefty sum of money from their retirement fund, to become an investor in a land deal scheme that later went bankrupt. Hearing the truth behind some of his stories and looking at his wife’s demeanor, I felt she was being emotionally abused at the very least. I have witnessed other relationships that were similar, and I find them sad. Whether it is physical or emotional, abuse is abuse in my book. And when it is at the level that was on display in this dramatic musical movie it is downright tragic.      YEARS OF ABUSE COULD NOT EXTINGUISH the dreams of a young woman who needed to find her own voice. With musical artist Fantasia Barrino as Celie, Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures, Empire-TV) as Shug Avery, Danielle Brooks (Close Enough-TV, Orange is the New Black-TV) as Sofia, Colman Domingo (Rustin, Selma) as Mister and Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, Kong: Skull Island) as Harpo, this film adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the original film and novel provided some stellar performances. I thought the entire cast was amazing, despite my reservations about Fantasia in the lead role. Granted her character was meant to be pushed into the background, but she was the only one that did not match the screen presence power of Taraji, Danielle and Colman. If you are not fond of musicals, then you might need to bypass this picture because it is full of musical and dance numbers. At first, I felt they were taking away from the dramatic scenes, but as the story progressed, I came to appreciate how they were doing their part in telling the story. With the director’s steady direction, this film delivered on most counts.                                       

3 ¼ stars