29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glory ... glory, February 1, 2005
This review is from: Green Pastures [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I admit the first time I saw this film, my skin crawled just a little bit at the accents and stereotypes -- Heaven is a perpetual fish fry!
But as the film progressed and the simple, beautiful vision plays out, it's like the stories triumphs over all the 1930s Hollywood prejudice and takes us places few other films ever seem to approach.
Just to clarify the story ... it's supposed to be how one of the black children, hearing the story of Genesis for the first time, envisions it by placing all the Biblical characters in his or her environment. It's charming and funny and just a fine simple entertainment with some wonderful authentic gospel music ... and then ...
... and then Rex Ingram as "Da Lawd" visits earth to find out why men keep praying to him when he's long ago forsaken them. He meets a soldier named Hezdrel (Rex Ingram in another role) who explains how mankind as discoved mercy ... then he marches off to his death, leaving God standing there, stunned by the lesson he has just learned!
Suddenly, it's not funny or sweet any more but a powerful statement of faith ... a faith that overcomes the worst of Hollywood's prejudices and always leaves me gasping for breath as the scene in Heaven dissolves back to the Sunday School class and into one of the greatest single shots in movie history.
This is a great and powerful movie ... and like so many other posters here, I'm begging for somebody to bring it out in DVD ... preferably somebody like Criterion, which would do it right.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Has You Been Redeemed?, July 22, 2000
This review is from: Green Pastures [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This awe-inspiring film has been one of my favorites since childhood, when I watched it on a Sunday morning that I was too sick to go to church (or did the Devil get in me? ). Full of humor and precious moments, wonderful performances, and simply amazing theatre-like staging; I've grown to appreciate this movie more and more as I get older. The all-black cast rises far above the stereotypes which so easily could have ruined the film, interestingly by seeming to apply the powerful lessons of humility and loving obedience which De Lawd expects.
The memorable scenes are too numerous to record, ranging from the powerful (De Lawd, in plantation-owner finery, strolling through heaven, chanting "Has you been redeemed? Has you been baptized?...") to the hilarious (the angel Gabriel, putting his lips to the horn, as he anticipates De Lawd's wrath).
A wonderful family film.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Watch This Before You Die!, December 11, 2004
This review is from: Green Pastures [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is an absolute must see film. As with all art forms there are masterpieces that should be experienced by as many people as possible and missed by as few as possible. This is one of them. It is one of a kind. You will never see anything even remotely aproaching it's unique apeal. Everyone I know who has seen this movie has a different specific reaction, but generally speaking, it has made them all smile in the remembrance of it. And I can think of no higher praise for a movie than that. Don't miss it.
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