The following are movie reviews of 'Woman Thou Art Loosed' and 'Shark Tale.' Woman Thou Art Loosed
"Woman Thou Art Loosed" (Magnolia Pictures) is a potent and soul-inspiring drama about the healing power of forgiveness.
Based on the best-selling novel and stage play of the same name by evangelical author and pastor T.D. Jakes, the quality film deals with difficult subjects -- including sexual molestation and murder -- though in a way which challenges viewers of faith to take seriously the Christian imperatives of love and reconciliation.
Kimberly Elise stars as Michelle Jordan, a young woman raped as a child by her mom's live-in boyfriend Reggie (Clifton Powell). Loretta Devine plays Cassie, Michelle's mother whose fear of "losing her man" and being alone blinds her to the evils perpetrated on her daughter.
The film is bookended by a scene of a revival meeting with Jakes (playing himself) preaching to a packed house. Michelle enters -- distraught -- and approaches the altar. In a sudden fit of rage, she pulls a gun from her handbag and fires off several rounds, killing someone in the crowd. The victim's identity is initially withheld, though it becomes less of a mystery as the story unfolds.
Jakes visits Michelle on death row as she awaits execution. They talk and he coaxes Michelle to open up to him about the painful events which set her downward spiral in motion.
The film see-saws between past and present, as Michelle recounts her tragic tale of childhood abuse and neglect, which she says robbed her of not only her innocence but her hope. In short order, the film proceeds to show how these early violations plunged Michelle headlong into a self-destructive abyss of drug addiction, prostitution and prison, before arriving back where the movie began.
Elise delivers an emotionally penetrating performance, but, sadly, one which will probably be overlooked for Oscar consideration because of the film's limited release. Jakes, who also financed the project, has a presence to match his sizable frame, and exudes a sincerity which is both charismatic and consoling, cultivated no doubt through years of real-life pastoral experience.
Echoing the moral conscience of "Dead Man Walking" and informed by the Christian understanding of each individual's sacred value, the picture attempts to neither justify the characters' wrongdoings, nor minimize their humanity by painting them as irredeemable villains.
Instead, it portrays them as flawed, but still worthy of our compassion and understanding, or at the very least -- as in Reggie's case -- forgiveness. To help in this effort, the film contains soul-searching interludes where each character gets to address the audience directly. Moreover, the film clearly advocates accountability, emphasizing that a vital step on the road to recovery and repentance involves taking responsibility for one's actions.
Lifting its title from the verse in the Gospel of Luke where Christ cures a crippled woman, the grace-filled film speaks to the brokenness in each of us, and manages to maintain a tenor that is both unflinchingly raw and edifyingly hopeful, avoiding, for the most part, any slushy sentimentality.
As directed by Michael Schultz, "Woman Thou Art Loosed" sees sin for what it is: ugly, destructive and spiritually suffocating. But it does not offer pie-in-the-sky piety as an easy antidote to the human condition. Instead the movie agrees with C.S. Lewis that "hell is locked from the inside."
Ultimately, the movie suggests that the key to freeing ourselves from our self-imposed imprisonment is to let go of our anger and accept the gift of God's "harsh and dangerous love," to borrow a phrase from Dorothy Day, which demands that we extend forgiveness to even those least deserving of it.
Due to several instances of violence, including the implied rape of a young girl, a sexual encounter with blurred nudity, recurring drug content and some crude language, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted.
Shark Tale
A little fish's big fib lands him in an ocean of hot water in the eye-filling but otherwise underwhelming deep-sea comedy "Shark Tale" (Dreamworks).
Combining cutting-edge computer animation with an ensemble of all-star voices, directors Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron and Rob Letterman are keeping their fins crossed that their fish fable will reel in the same box-office success as Pixar's "Finding Nemo." Yet while both films take place in sparkling aquatic settings, the similarities stop there. In terms of story and characters, "Shark Tale" is a few fathoms below "Nemo."
"Shark Tale" centers on Oscar (voiced by Will Smith), a jive-talking small-fry fish with big dreams and an even bigger mouth, living in the Southside Reef, where he works scrubbing tongues at the local Whale Wash. But when he takes undeserved credit for slaying Frankie (voiced by Michael Imperioli), one of the great white sharks menacing the coral community, Oscar becomes an instant celebrity.
His "valor" earns him the title "Shark Slayer" and gains him entree to the good life at the top of the reef. His newfound fame also attracts the amorous attention of an opportunistic fin fatale named Lola (voiced by Angelina Jolie).
But when word gets back to Frankie's dad, Don Lino (voiced by Robert DeNiro) -- the godfather of the undersea underworld -- Oscar suddenly finds himself up to his gills in trouble. His only hope is to strike an unlikely alliance with Lenny (voiced by Jack Black), Don Lino's sensitive other son -- currently out of favor for being a vegetarian -- who has neither the chops, nor the stomach, for the family business.
While lacking the sharpness and heart of "Finding Nemo" (or for that matter Dreamworks' own "Shrek" movies), "Shark Tale" is, nevertheless, a delight for the eyes.
The vibrant underwater environments are more fanciful than the naturalistic seascapes of the Pixar film. The Southside Reef resembles a fish-friendly version of New York City, with a central hub modeled after Times Square, including a giant screen flashing headline news stories by a reporter called Katie Current (voiced by real NBC's "Today Show" anchor Katie Couric).
It is amazing how well the animators have managed to match the characters' personalities and mannerisms with those of the actors. This is especially true for Martin Scorsese, who provides staccato speech to Sykes, Oscar's puffer fish boss, drawn with Scorsese's bushy eyebrows.
Rounding out the sea of voices are Renee Zellweger as a sweet-natured angelfish hooked on Oscar for all the right reasons and Doug E. Doug and Ziggy Marley as a pair of Rastafarian jellyfish who provide some stingingly funny moments. Peter Falk even lends his larynx as Don Ira Fienberg, a Mafioso tiger shark who wants to see Oscar "sleeping with" the gefilte fish. What is missing, however, is one of those lovable, scene-stealing characters who win the audience over, as Eddie Murphy's Donkey and Ellen DeGeneres' Dory did in "Shrek" and "Finding Nemo," respectively.
As in the "Shrek" films, "Shark Tale" is swimming with clever pop-culture references, including product placements for "fishified" brand names like "Coral Cola," "Old Wavy" clothing and "Kelpy Kreme" doughnuts humorously -- at times shamelessly -- embedded into the scenes.
In spite of its "Jaws"-junior setting, "Shark Tale" really owes much of its inspiration to mob movies like "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas" and HBO's "The Sopranos," which it delights in spoofing. Some viewers may feel that by identifying the gangsters with Italians, the film reinforces, however unintentionally, negative ethnic stereotypes. Also fishy are lines like "May his stinking, maggot-covered corpse rot in the fiery depths of hell," which, despite the movie's message of tolerance, may send parents scrambling to find "Nemo."
Due to that instance of violently descriptive dialogue and some mildly crude language and humor, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested. David DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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