Diary of a Mad Black Woman
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—About this Film pdf
It happens every year in cinema—without warning, totally unexpected, and turning the film industry on its head. The Sleeper: that film which industry prognosticators happily write off but eventually comes out of nowhere to score boffo box office. The Sixth Sense was The Sleeper of 2000. My Big Fat Greek Wedding was The Sleeper of 2002. Last year, Napoleon Dynamite and The Passion of the Christ shared the reins as The Sleeper. This year, it’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
Despite its “shortcomings� (mediocre reviews, no A-list Hollywood stars, a $5.4 million budget, and a writer/producer who is unknown in Hollywood circles yet a household name within the African American community), this film has turned Hollywood upside down thanks to its spectacular #1 opening weekend gross of $22 million. Now, Tyler Perry, the aforementioned writer/producer (and arguably, the Star) of this film, is the toast of the town! Thanks to the success of this film, coupled with the Academy Award wins of Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman, February 27 will go down in history as a banner day for African American actors and filmmakers.
I’ll be honest… I wasn’t even planning to see the film until I saw those numbers and nearly fell out of my chair. I feared that the film would be just another low budgeted, low quality African American film that would earn an “A� for effort but a “D� in execution. I was wrong… happily wrong. Not only is the film well acted, honest, heartwarming and funny as heck, it also does not hesitate to point its audience toward a Heavenly direction.
Helen (Kimberly Elise) has a seemingly perfect life complete with the requisite big house, fancy car, and successful husband (Steve Harris). Her life comes crashing down on her 18th wedding anniversary when she comes home and finds a U-Haul truck packed with all of her stuff. Hubby comes home and drops the bombshell that he’s leaving her for a younger, sexier chick. She refuses to leave and hopelessly clings to the sofa for dear life. This desperate act forces her hubby to drag her across the floor and throw her out of the house they’ve built.
Shattered and humiliated, Helen runs to the only place she can: her wisecracking, gun-toting and precious Madea (writer/producer Tyler Perry-performing one of three roles in the film). The character Madea has a loyal following thanks to Perry’s plethora of Gospel Musical Plays where she is a regularly featured character that keeps the audience (both on stage and in this film) in stitches. She pulls no punches and tells it like it is. Behind the pistol popping and wisecracking, she gives Helen a hearty slice of unconditional love, much needed in light of Helen’s current situation. When she’s not cooking or threatening to whip out her pistol, Madea is often seen sparring with her brother Uncle Joe (role #2 by Perry), who is older than dirt and has an affinity for innuendo and reefer smoking!
Through the strength of Madea, the godly wisdom of her mother (played by the elegant and indestructible Cicely Tyson), and the legal counsel of her cousin Brian (role #3 by Perry), Helen gets back on her feet. Not only that, she gets a second chance at love at the hands of steel worker Orlando (Shemar Moore). Ironically it was he who witnessed the vicious act by Helen’s hubby… he was the mover assigned to pack and ship Helen’s stuff. Naturally, as movies go, Helen is resentful and suspicious toward Orlando’s motives at first, but he eventually wins her heart. His declaration of love for Helen is bound to make the ladies in the audience swoon! Even the sanctified, Christ-loving sisters in the audience will find themselves swooning when they hear Helen praising Orlando for his Christian beliefs. This isn’t just talk, ladies and gentlemen, it’s action: because of his faith in Christ, Orlando does not have sex with Helen during their courtship. Instead of having sex, they share something deeper: intimacy. In an age of American Pies, Eurotrips and countless other films that express a footloose attitude about sexuality, it’s extremely rare to see a film place purity and sexuality as values to be honored before God. That’s refreshing and challenging at the same time.
As Helen and Orlando’s bond grows deeper over the course of the film, he eventually pops the question and they go on to live happily ever aft ... not so fast! A series of unfortunate and tragic circumstances force Helen to confront her not-quite-ex-hubby and face the issues surrounding their broken marriage. The film pulls no punches in this approach. We see Helen go through stages of vulnerability, anger and rage. Through these events, the film takes us to places that few other films have taken us. Helen is brought to the point where she must rely on the power of God/Jesus Christ to not only forgive her husband, but herself as well.
Make no mistake about it. Diary of a Mad Black Woman is a Christian-oriented film, through and through. But what sets it apart from the Left Behinds and Omega Codes is its universality. Much like Woman Thou Art Loosed (another Christian-oriented film starring Elise in the title role), it’s a message that hits us on every level whether we’re faithful churchgoers or regular Joes/Josephines working eight hours a day. It’s ultimately a film about healing, faith, trust and forgiveness… principles that transcend one’s religious beliefs. The film without hesitation points to God/Jesus as the answer. But it’s not a forced and preachy message. No one is threatened with the fires and eternal damnation of Hell. Instead the characters are continuously being gently encouraged to look for God as well as to God and, particularly in the climax of the film, allow Him to heal, change, and restore their lives. But, in the midst of that, the film’s finale takes us to a place that’s steeped in honesty and reality that made me appreciate the film even more.
At the time of this review, Roger Ebert has found himself the object of major scrutiny from some (not all) members of the African American community because he gave the film "thumbs down-way down". The issue that sunk the film for him was the portrayal of Madea. He felt that her presence sabotaged the message of the film. From my P.O.V., Ebert's opinion on how African American grandmothers are to be portrayed stems from him watching "Soul Food" and other films of that nature (since he mentioned the actress who played the grandma in that film). According to his review of this and countless other African-American films, the typical African American grandmother is supposed to be "sympathetic and caring", with pearls of wisdom hidden underneath their kitchen aprons. My grandma (R.I.P.) definitely fit that category. However, there are a quite a few grandmas who are just as spunky, loud and opinionated as Madea. They offer pearls of wisdom as well...but said wisdom falls under the uncut, uncensored, "tell it like it is" category! Having seen my fair share of those types of grandmas as well, I have no beef with the character. In fact, Madea had me ROFTL throughout the whole movie.
Grab your friends, your parents, and your grandparents and see what’s got Hollywood turned on its ear! See the brilliant performances by Kimberly Elise, Shemar Moore and, especially, Tyler Perry as Madea! Let the message encourage and enrich your soul… and let Madea tickle your funny bone. Hilarious, inspirational, and worth every box office dollar it’s earned, Diary of a Mad Black Woman is the first Sleeper hit of 2004!—Overview
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—About this Film pdf
14 Comments:
Comic book scribe and minister, Christopher Priest, wrote in his blog about "Diary of a Mad Black Woman": "There seems to be two factors at work: one, that Hollywood rarely makes intelligent films for black audiences, assuming that we won’t go. Two: that Hollywood’s assumption is largely correct: we won’t go. We want to laugh and party and have a good time, or deal with da hood and thug life and who got shot. It’s as though we have no intellectual curiosity, no cultural aspirations beyond a lowest common denominator baseline. Don’t get me wrong, I think Madere is funny as heck (though I’m not entirely sure it’s not both exploitative of and mocking of black church goers at the same time). I just wish more of us had seen more intellectually challenging films (and read some books while we’re at it). And I wish Hollywood had maybe made some films for our community that required an IQ over 40."
Do you think that's a fair assessment?
While I agree with Mr. Priest in spirit, my gut tells me that the brutal fact is that most entertainment is dumbed down across the board. Partly there is the matter of scale: there are a lot of "white" movie options. Plenty of "Million Dollar Baby"s and "The Aviators" to offset the "Dude, Where's My Car?"s of the world. we've only the occasional Ice Cube flick to offset "White Chicks" and "Soul Plane" and other minstrelism.
I try to support black films when I can, hoping to vote with my dollars for Hollywood to make more of them. That said, you couldn't have paid me to go see "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" on opening weekend. I made the mistake once of taking a date to see "Waiting to Exhale" during its opening weekend. I felt lucky to have made it out intact. It was like going to an anti-man church. (-:
That's not a fair assessment at all. First of all, this film was not made by a major Hollywood studio. Tyler Perry did indeed shop the project around to the major studios but he could not strike a deal to get the film made. Not because of its Blackness...but because of its Christness! They wanted him to cut all the Jesus stuff. He said, "No dice!" I truly believe that God has honored him for that. He made a conscious choice to honor the Lord and to glorify Him through this film. And he's gotten blessed beyond his wildest dreams!
What is interesting is that most Black film critics have taken delight in bashing this film while their respective target audiences are eating this film up. I don't think it's necessarily because of Madea (who, by the way, is not a mockery of Black churchgoers. How can she be? That character never claimed to be a Christian...let alone a churchgoer...in the first place!). It's a real story that folks can easily relate to. It's not demeaning or stereotypical. And it's not "anti-man" either. Yes, the husband character is pretty much a slimeball; but there's Shemar Moore's character who embodies all the good qualities that are rarely highlighted in Black men.
Regarding the issue of seeing intelligent Black films on screen: it IS Hollywood...the land where money talks. Unfortunately, certain segments of the Black moviegoing audience would rather see a bootlegged copy of a film than taking the actual effort of going to the theatre and buying a ticket to see the same film (I actually spent this past Christmas evening watching a room full of folks watch a bootleg copy of Ray!). They're not aware of the consequences of making that decision. As a result, studios would rather play it safe and make low risk investments like "White Chicks" and "Soul Plane". That ain't Hollywood's fault. That's our fault!
this is the second movie in recent memory aimed at the black church going market ("woman thou art loosed" being the other). do you think that hollywood will pick up on this or will they, like "the passion of the christ", be viewed as anomalies and remain strictly the domain of independent film?
This will be viewed as another anomaly. As I said earlier, this film was marketed as a Black film rather than a Christian based film. It's disappointing to see the mainstream Christian community not rallying around this film as they did for TPOTC. Their support would have allowed the film to have greater success.
Hollywood's eyes are opened thanks to "Diary" and TPOTC, but it's going to take more Christian based filmmakers to have continous and similar successes telling stories such as this in order to for the Hollywood to pick up on this. With all due respect to the filmmakers responsible for "Left Behind" and other prophetic/Revelations based stories, Christian based cinema needs to spend its energy telling stories about what God/Jesus is doing here and now. "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" is the story of how Helen (the main character) learned to rely on Christ. He helped to overcome her obstacles. He revived her spirit. He gave her the strength to face the hard issues in her live. Through experiencing His love and grace, she was able to forgive those who have hurt and damaged her, and He gave her the power to believe in love again. That's real life stuff. THOSE are the stories that the world needs to see. Christian based filmmakers should use this film as well as "Woman Thou Art Loosed" as a blueprint for the types of films they should be making.
As a white male. I was not sure whether or not I wanted to see this film after hearing my wife's assessments.
I was not put off by the film's "blackness", in fact I enjoyed seeing positive sides of the black community that I so often do not see in Hollywood's productions. I was even warming up to the Christian themes that were being woven onto the story. "Wow. This is positive" I found myself thinking, especially after seeing Helen come to a point of forgiveness for Charles, and seeming to actually take an interest in him as a lost man needing help. Then seeing them both in church, and especially Charles' repentance and restoration, and I was ready to leave the theater refreshed and encouraged.
Then they *really* blew it.
Helen, upon seeing Charles restored, and her brother's wife free from drugs, promptly tells everyone she loves someone else and jumps into Orlando's arms, virtually throwing away everything God has done in her life. I was left feeling that I can use God to fix everyone around me, then when He is done, I can go get what I really wanted all along for myself.
I think that is a dangerous attitude for Christians to have. I *DO NOT* recommend this movie to anyone!
SPOILERS INCLUDED...
I don't think Helen threw away what God did in her life. In fact, her final act in the film was exactly the right choice for her to make. I understand how that may seem cruel and un-Christlike for me to say. Allow me to explain.
When Orlando declared his love for Helen, she couldn't receive it and give it back in return. Why? Because she still had to deal with the unresolved issue between her and her husband. The tragedy provided a platform for her to face those issues. Helen didn't make the choice to return to her marriage. She made the choice to take care of her husband because she was the only one left who could have taken care of him.
I have heard of and seen real life examples of what Helen did in this film. I have seen friends and family members become caregivers and caretakers to their ex-spouses. Some of them endured far worse abuse than Helen did. But they humbled themselves and became those caregivers in time of need.
Charles was indeed restored to Christ...but that did not mean that their marriage was automatically restored as well. I'll say it again: just because God restored Charles didn't automatically mean that God restored their marriage. That marriage was dead long before the tragic accident. Once Charles was able to regain his natural abilities again...along with surrendering to Christ...Helen's work was done. Those unresolved issues became resolved and she was now free to love Orlando.
I could go on and on explaining this, but, in the end, the only real way to understand what I'm saying is to experience this in real life.
What I didn't write is that when I watched this movie, I was going through my own version of "Can this marriage be saved?" Several of the themes were resonating very deeply within me... the disrespect, the verbal rejection, the lonliness, etc. I saw myself in the role of Helen, althought not receiving the degree of rejection she experienced, but the hurt and anger felt similar. I had even found another person that I thought was showing me the kind of personal acceptance (w/o sex) that I was wanting so deeply.
But in the end, I felt like this movie was encouraging me to say to my wife, "I tried, but I found the love that you have not shown me, from another woman." As tempting as this is at times, I do not think this is what God would want me to do.
Scripture is pretty clear that the believing spouse is not to leave. If the unbelieving ones does leave, then the believer is free (I Cor. 7:10-16). In this movie, the unbelieving spouse returned as a believer.
I know that real-life choices can be hard (sometimes *very* hard), and it is easy to stand back and tell another person what they ought to do. But I do think we need to continue to hold a very high view of God's words and how they are applied in stories like this one.
"Scripture is pretty clear that the believing spouse is not to leave. If the unbelieving ones does leave, then the believer is free (I Cor. 7:10-16). In this movie, the unbelieving spouse returned as a believer."
You're forgetting that it was Charles who wanted the divorce in the first place. It was Charles's act of emotional and physical abuse that set the whole film in motion. They'd already gone to court and he already signed the papers. The ball was in Helen's court to sign them as well to finalize the divorce.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not discounting the value of Scripture in your statement. I do agree that we need to use God's Word as the standard. But I can't get past those real life examples that I've talked about. I've seen Christian couples who's marriages ended even after the abusive spouse repented for his actions. I've also seen Christian marriages who, after horrendous abuse, obeyed the Scripture that you mentioned and stayed together...and the love and honor and committment in that marriage is dead. Basically...all you have is 2 people living together. It's the saddest thing to see.
I do not believe that Tyler Perry's message is "feel free to leave your marriage if it doesn't make you feel good". The focus on the film was not even on the marriage itself. The focus was on Helen and her overcoming her obstacles and finding freedom and life in Christ.
ON DIARY...
I lived the life of Helen in many ways, from the big house, the fancy cars, the successful husband, and the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. My take on this movie is a bit different.
After coming out of my marriage to end the abuse, I now see a much different picture. As a victime, I would have loved a Madea in my life at the time. I think the character of Madea was more of an angel role, in that she acted out how Helen really felt, but could not express because of fear. Over-coming fear is the biggest element in an abusive relationship. While watching the movie, I was thrilled and amazed at the cheers coming from female women in the audience.
With the stats. of 1 woman being abused every 15 sec., it is no wonder to me that this kind of response was happening.
The other subleties I felt were significant were the resolves of family relationships,ie., mother, and extended family. Isolation is a huge problem in abusive relationships and it takes years to restore all of that.
Thank God for the hero role in Madea. It takes that kind of tough love, guts, and blatant wisdom to get some of us out of these messes. I think we all need to put away our Sunday School image of God and Jesus that is way to pretty and realize the awesome power of God and the lengths He will go to to save one lost sheep.
I have watched my ex slowly come out of a life of drugs, alcohol, and abuse, and truly returning to his Lord and saviour, but I could never trust him enough to marry him again even though he would like me to.
The biggest message of the movie to me was that Helen found intimacy, the one thing that abusers are incapable of. In the book, 'Charmers and Con Artiists' by Winepress, the author delves into the psyche of the abusive personality. The subleties of their actions and personality are absolutely frightening and next to impossible to overcome. I think Helen did well to move on, besides the fact that he was loving, honest, and gorgeous.
To sum this up, I feel this is a very Godly movie and hope to see more of this kind of honesty in the future. My compliments to Tyler Perry for having the guts to not only live out a tough life, but take it and use it for God's glory. His research is right on the money.
I think what you all missed was that this film is an incredible allegory. I might write a review on it and post it. But, suffice it to say, this writer had very intentional meaning behind the dialogue between Orlando and Helen. I only say that because I've written an allegorical script before - it's hard to "hide" the important, on-the-nose statements within believable dialogue. I saw some of his statements wobble at unlikely moments, and that's what clued me in.
Watch this movie again. This time, consider the allegory: Charles is the World. It does to a person what Charles did to Helen, no matter how much time we've invested in it. Orlando is Christ. He does to us what Orlando does and says to Helen, regardless of whether we've just met him. That might help you out with the ending.
I am so impressed with this film, I'm dying to write a review. Think I will...
Just watched the film. Hey i am not as smart as you all but here is my 2 cents.....
First I will say I loved the christian overtones in the movie. My only beef with the movie was the ending. The director makes you like the character charles then at the end the chick leaves him. Like Rich I was very conflicted about this part. As an allogory ok it could work because she is leaving the world but after all that harping on all the christian values how could she leave him at the end? Even the mom says something along the lines of "hey you better end one relationship before you start another." If the director wanted Helen to leave her husband, he should of had her forgive him at the mansion.... or have her come to some realization at the gradmothers house WITHOUT him there. [he could be independant of her now and be there for some reason] She could nicely confront him just like in the movie while he is sitting in his office, though now he could answer back, explaining how he doesn't love her anymore or something. Even two words or a silent nod would of helped me me out. THEN, she could run off with the mover guy. The common person will not see if charles has truly repented or wants Helen back even. You just see her leave him like a chump in her grandmothers house. Thats a bad witness on her part. NOT a good ending. My ending is better....lol
Maybe, but I don't think that she had given Charles any indication that she was going back to him. When he tries to pull her in with him on the bed, she refutes this gesture. She does this again when she indicates that they are just "friends." On the credits (at least on the DVD I saw) Madea did address her disappearence and her making Charles look like a chump ("I bet she made you feel this small. In fact, she said you were this small.")
I love Madea. I feel that as crazy as she is, she embodies the Christian ideal better than most of the characters, even Helen's mother. She has better insight into the situations than the others ("she beating the hell out of him" "Love is stronger than any addiction. Hell, it is one") and she protects every one who matters to her.
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