Customer Reviews

The Visit [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Visit" is an outstanding expanded view of a prison inmate dying of AIDS. His world is defined by visits from family members and an old girl friend, and by his meetings with a prison psychologist and the parole board. Each encounter is followed by dream sequences where he imagines an intimacy with them that is impossible across the physical and mental barriers defining their short time together. The story paints a larger picture of anger, love, and forgiveness that reaches beyond the unsentimental and unvarnished prison drama to a universal redemption unbound by prison walls. Say amen somebody; this is true religion at its best, sans God or Bible, but rich in human love.

"The Visit" is a very fine film with formidable performances, especially from the superb Hill Harper and Billy Dee Williams. I also thought Rae Dawn Chong was the best I've ever seen her. It is a terrible shame this film was deemed fit only to been seen in theatres on the West and East coasts. I would definitely have paid good money to see this film to give it the proper support it so richly deserved. I found myself connecting with these characters completely and regretted seeing them leave after a truly magnificent stay in my home for an hour and forty five minutes. Please rent this film. There may be little we can do about supporting it at a theatre near our respective homes, however we can do what is necessary to make sure it flies off video shelves.

While it is not my intention to insult films like "The Brothers" and "Two Can Play That Game," I do feel it is worth noting that films like "The Visit" ("Eve's Bayou" comes to mind as well as the television series adaptation of the film "Soul Food") represent the talent Black actors and filmmakers are capable of if only given the chance to be seen and heard. Bravo to Jordan Walker Pearlman for his exquisite film and let us hope this represents an embracing of excellence in the telling of Black people's stories on screen. I am very, very proud.

This movie is just beautiful. The portrayals were the absolute best and I wasn't disappointed. You have this brother who has AIDS in prison. His father, who didn't give him no support when he needed it, will not visit him in prison until the brother(Obba Babatunde) asks them to. I believe the reason he asks the family to come is because he knew the end was coming, and in his own way he wanted to make peace. In some of the scenes, he baits some of the folks, I felt that was a waste of time, but other than that, it was good. One of the best, and one of the most underrated movies that is out there.

The Visit is an extraordinarily powerful film. Hill Harper is a great young actor, Billy Dee Williams has not been better in many years. The film is almost claustrophobic at times because everything is so tightly filmed in the prison, but that becomes symbolic of Alex's (Hill's) state of mind. Despite is angry, raging exterior, Alex is a hurt, lonely little boy. He reminds us that those people who we see as intimidating are often scared and attempting to protect themselves from further hurt.
I've showed this film in a college classroom with social work students, and there wasnt a dry eye in the place.

When I first saw The "Visit" it was on HBO, but never really seeing
the Movie from the beginning, but found it to be just as powerful.
I'm a movie collector and just knew I wanted it as part of my
collection. To me "The Visit" was just an anology of being
locked behind the "prison walls of your mind" and even though
those who were physically free weren't really free...they were
still imprisoned mentally and spiritually. Sometimes you have to look beyond the title of the movie and see how it's speaking into your life. The acting was good and there was a story line; it all
had to do with how deep inside yourself were you willing to go to
get the meaning of the message of the movie...

Somewhere, in every family, there's an ache to be healed

Seeing a movie of this caliber was a pleasant surprise.
Hill Harper will be a major leading star in the very near future. While the most obvious comparison is to think of the next Denzel Washington, I think he will take a step forward, just as Denzel did from Sidney Poitier. Harper's strong performance in the TV show City of Angels and his debut feature film Loving Jezebel gives you a glimpse into his potential.

His acting is exceptional, without the need for giving speeches like many of the current crop of better actors such as Denzel Washington, Kevin Spacey and Nicholas Cage. As I was looking at this film, I was reminded of Denzel in Hurricance. Not because of the similar prison setting, but because of the depth of the character being shown in a confined space. Jordan Walker-Pearlman's directing compliments Harper's acting, effectively using flashbacks and luminous dream sequences.

The supporting cast is excellent, creating an ensemble film. Obba Babatunde, Rae Dawn Chong, Billy Dee Williams, Marla Gibbs and Phylicia Rashad all provide memorable performances. Billy Dee even makes up for his shameful supporting, "I really need a paycheck," role in The Ladies Man.

In The Hurricane, the primary villain was a racist white policeman and an insensitive judicial system. In The Visit, the biggest enemy starts out as Alex himself. As in the phrase, "still waters run deep," The Visit is about so much more than a conversation between two people sitting on different sides of a table. Every family has room for a spiritual awakening and there are doors that you may wish to reopen once you see this film.

George O. Singleton © 2000
George@reelmoviecritic.com

I never believed I could cry for a criminal. I always assumed they were in prison because twelve strangers said, "Guilty." The movie, The Visit, took me not only inside of prison walls, it took me inside of the prisoner's heart...a heart most people on the outside never know, not even a father. It took me inside the prisoner's thoughts as he looked at me through my television screen. I felt guilty for my own freedom. I saw in his eyes what I have felt many times, the sadness of a person who deserved more, a person who was not heard, a person who so much begs for freedom but can only look through cold steel bars. This movie gave me a sense of what my freedom really means. Freedom is a choice every day of your life. You don't have to go to prison to be in prison. I cried the tears this man could not part with. This movie is a lesson in life.

Based on the reviews printed, I purchased The Visit. I am forever greatful. It was a beautiful film. Rich in texture and in talent. Harper is wonderful as the convict infected with the aid virus. I was so moved by his performance I was reduced to tears. I held my chest and became speechless at the end. Thank you for rating this film with 5 stars. I might have missed it otherwise.

Dealing with family and forgiveness is one of the hardest and most humbling things we all, as humans, go through in life. This story shows how this one man, who is dying and is in prison, not only tortures himself because of anger, love and forgiveness, but how his family and friends support, and at times don't support his journey. If you are looking for a story with raw emotions, hard cold truths, and saving love, this is the story for you. It applies to us all as humans as it erases the differences of race or color and deals with the heart.

The acting in this movie is superb. Hill Harper and Billy Dee Williams have outdone themselves again.

Jordan Walker-Pearlman has taken this play and has shown us all this valuable life lesson on film. I expect great things from Jordan in the future and anxiously await them. You have my support.

Sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit, Alex (HILL HARPER, He Got Game) must now fight to win his parole. His fight, however, is not with the prison authorities, but with himself. From behind the jail cell bars Alex looks on at the middle class life he left behind and his brother Tony (OBBA BABATUNDE, Life) who now has everything Alex does not. Visits from his parents (BILLY DEE WILLIAMS, MARLA GIBBS), his childhood sweetheart (RAE DAWN CHONG) and the prison psychiatrist (PHYLICIA RASHAD) start to rebuild Alex. Each visit teaches him to love not just the world, but himself. As this spiritual adventure of the heart reaches its unexpected climax, Alex shows us how we can all become better people when we face the demons inside us.