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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Salesrank: 9116
Released: November 29, 2005 |
| Our Price: $7.62 |
| Used Price: $4.78 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Oprah Winfrey Presents THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, the story of a remarkable and resilient woman's quest for love and fulfillment based on the best-selling book by Zora Neale Hurston. Academy Award(R) winner Halle Berry (Best Actress 2003, MONSTERS BALL) stars as the beautiful Janie Crawford, who embarks on an emotional and dramatic journey of self-discovery. Refusing to compromise in spite of society's expectations, Janie endures two stifling marriages until finally finding love in a passionate romance with a much younger man. In one of the greatest, most lyrical love stories ever written, Janie experiences all that life has to offer, from unbelievable triumph to unspeakable heartbreak. Be inspired again and again by this timeless story of passion, romance, and the spirit of true love. ~
Description of Their Eyes Were Watching God:
Produced by Oprah Winfrey, this lush, yet earthy telefilm was adapted from the 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston. Set in rural Florida, the story begins several years after emancipation. Janie (a soulful Halle Berry) is a dreamy-eyed teenager, who never knew her parents. She was raised by the bitter Nanny (Ruby Dee), an ex-slave, who marries her off to an older man the minute she gets the chance. Mr. Killicks works Janie like a dog, but leaves her alone otherwise (he's abusive in the book). Then Janie meets the courtly Joe (Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues), who whisks her away from the muck to the black township of Eatonville. The two proceed to transform the town from a patch of dirt into a real community. Along the way, Joe becomes mayor and Janie a mere helpmate. Except for her friend Phoeby (Nicki Micheaux), the townspeople confuse her sadness for conceit and she ends up lonelier than ever. Twenty years later, Joe dies and Janie takes up with the younger Tea Cake (Michael Ealy, Barbershop). Much like the other literary adaptations with which she's been associated (The Color Purple, Beloved, etc.), this Oprah production boasts an impressive line-up of African-American talent, including Terrence Howard (Crash) as the covetous Amos. A mostly successful mix between suds and substance, Their Eyes Were Watching God, which premiered on ABC, was directed by Darnell Martin, co-written by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan Lori-Parks, and graced with a classy score by frequent Spike Lee collaborator Terence Blanchard. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Their Eyes Were Watching God Reviews:
The book is better, great selection of actors for characterization 
2009-10-29 - The book is much better. The movie does a great job of selecting the right actors for the roles. Janie, Killicks, and Jody look what I had imagined from the book. But the book seems to skim over the issues and conflicts from the novel. This is probably due to the nature of the story: not all stories can easily be converted to cinema. Halle Berry was a great choice.
I recommend the film for students who want to visualize what Janie was like, as well as other characters. But the film doesn't deliver the emotional message that the book does. So see the DVD as an adjunct to the book.
LOVE IT! 
2009-10-28 - im so glad to finally have it on dvd, now i cant throw away my vhs tape of this, yaaaaay!
Great movie, good story
2009-06-23 - Having read the book years ago, and seeing this movie when it came out, I definitely wanted to add this DVD to my collection. Halle Berry is great in this role, and the cast around her are very good as well. This is a great Zora Neale Hurston love story.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
2009-05-19 - This is a really good movie. It's one of those movies that you can watch over and over.
A Love Story to Cherish & Remember 
2008-12-21 - I would personally like to thank Oprah Winfrey, Terrance Blanchard and Harpo productions for their lush, lighthearted, inspiring, and romantic adaptation of the Zora Heal Hurston novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God." The harsh realities of life are forever present in modern day media; they are ingrained in the bittersweet of our mundane lives and often darkly taint African-American literature. As long as there is strife and dysfunction in our society there are copious accounts of verbal and physical abuse, self-hate, sex crimes, and the devastating affects of mental slavery on a nation of people in the name of power. In my lifetime, I have encountered and read several stories that illustrate the self-hatred that a black male can feel for himself and how that contaminates his capacity and ability to love his own life, black women and children. Some black women have never experienced the healthy supportive love, compassion and kindest of black men in books or in life. Rare are the realistic accounts of the healthy, passionate, respectful and encouraging love between African-American/ Black couples.
In contrast to the other critics of the film, Winfrey's adaptation of "Their Eyes Where Watching God," was truly phenomenal! The movie version of the book was a much-needed and welcomed portrayal of ones journey through self-love; how it affects our ability to make our dreams come true and live a beautiful, splendid life. Prior to seeing the movie I am grateful that I had not read the book (with all due respect to Zora Neale Hurston). Frankly, when I learned that T-cake was abusive (typical of most novels) in the book and that in fact all of the men in the book were either emotional and/ or physically abusive, "something fell off of the self" in my heart, these subject matters are so prevalent in many novels because oftentimes it is difficult to write about an uplifting, liberating love when you have not experienced it for yourself.
The T-cake experienced in the film version of the book, loves Janie for exactly who she is at that moment in her life. Through his love for Janie, T-cake releases her from the fear that kept her in an abusive relationship with Raymond Stalks until death and from the same fear that was stifling her life to embrace new and wonderful experiences. In the film T-cake is realistically flawed, as she is, yet he understands the importance of accountability in love. Their exchange is not a toxic dance in which they break each other down spiritually, mentally, or physically. Together they delight in exploring each other and life together. They are passionate, fun and a true joy to watch if you have forgotten the joy, camaraderie, and electricity of love. In the end a content Janie embraces her self worth, her life, and the impact of T-cake in her life because the reality of unconditional love has finally deeply and profoundly reached out to touch her. During a very trying time in Halle Berry's personal life, when she was divorcing husband, Eric Benet and essentially "staring over" in her late thirties, I could truly understand why Oprah would offer this gift of hope to her friend in this amazing role. This film is a must-see but you really have to assume an open heart to really enjoy and appreciated the essence of the message of hope and love in this extraordinary film. Regardless of ethnicity, race, creed, or marital status it is a message that every adult could benefit from. Enjoy this remarkable powerful and incredibly romantic journey:-)
