For Colored Girls

2010 • 133 minutes

About this movie

In 1974, Ntozake Shange's choreopoem "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf" made its stage debut, combining poetry, dance and music, and most significantly, placing the black female experience center stage. In lyrical, honest, angry, funny and tender language, Shange's "colored girls" evoked the feelings woven into the fabric of black female life in America. Within two years, the play became a Broadway sensation, won an Obie and Tony Award, and would eventually be produced in regional theaters throughout the country. Now, thirty six years later, filmmaker Tyler Perry adapts this landmark work for the big screen, integrating the vivid language of Shange's poems into a contemporary narrative that explores what it means to be a woman of color - and a woman of any color - in this world. FOR COLORED GIRLS weaves together the stories of nine different women - Joanna, Tangie, Crystal, Gilda, Kelly, Juanita, Yasmine, Nyla and Alice - as they move into and out of one another's existences; some are well known to one another, others are as yet strangers. Crises, heartbreaks and crimes will ultimately bring these nine women fully into the same orbit where they will find commonality and understanding. Each will speak her truth as never before. And each will know that she is complete as a human being, glorious and divine in all her colors.

Ratings and reviews

Movies based on books are damned by comparison. Bringing Ntozake Shange's 1974 choreopoem "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf" to film was going to be challenging enough but considering PBS had previously filmed a version of the stage play it would be extremely difficult to be original. Being an advid reader and having read the choreopoem as well as seen the PBS production of the stageplay I was skeptical of anyone, even Perry, of being able to pull off this movie. Plus since I can still visualize some of the traumatic moments from the PBS production of the play over 3 decades later production I didn't know if I wanted the film to be good. But in spite of my reservations I went and saw the movie its first weekend out. The acting was of course excellent. But, similar to other movies that tell stories of women of color, the stories protrayed in the movie were very bleak, harsh and without joy. And yes that made these stories as sadly gut gripping as I remembered from my youth. But the fact that these stories portrayed such harsh images of Black men didn't make them less true. For one sad sad thing that I have learned in the decades between my youth and my mature adulthood is that all of these stories are true examples of experiences of women of color in relationships. The fact that I might not have experienced any of the stories doesn't make them less true. This isn't a movie to watch over and over but I will purchase a digital version to add to my movie collection for the grandkids to watch when they are older.

This movie enables the world to comprehend life experience of ALL women. The struggle of raising a family, pursuing a career and loving themselves are entwined with the reality of their environment. For example, single women, married women or the women who have chosen a partner who is either in a relationship or are married cultivate their world whether it’s a false sense of self or an authentic self. Women are not chosen for their life experience because it is their decision base on who they are and who they want to be ... The decision and the outcome is solely based on whether its a positive or negative, bad or good and wrong or right life situation or life experience which propel the outcome. .......... You get the idea ....

I love this movie. I am a Hispanic female and can relate to it a lot as for the title of the movie i see a lot of people have a problem with it but idk why. The book it was made after is called "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When The Rainbow is Enuf" so i don't see a problem. But i love this movie. It does not depict life as light hearted but shows the ugly and slowly overcoming it