From the best selling novel and stage play, Woman Thou Art Loosed (WTAL), comes the film adaptation of Bishop T.D. Jakes’ tale of dysfunction, isolation and finally, inspiration. WTAL tells the story of Michelle Jordan (Kimberly Elise), a young woman who grows up in an environment of abuse and molestation by the hands of her mother’s boyfriend Reggie (Clifton Powell); while her mother Cassie (Loretta Devine) looks the other way. These circumstances lead young Michelle into the dark abyss of drugs, prostitution and prison.
After a shocker of a prologue, Woman Thou Art Loosed cuts to a preacher visiting a young woman on death row in an unnamed prison. The minister is the real thing, Bishop T.D. Jakes, whom Time magazine put on its cover three years ago as “America’s best preacher.” This powerful picture, which Stan Foster adapted from Jakes’ novel, is the real thing too, showing just how rape can damage a child for life.
The bishop’s visits to a young inmate, Michelle Jordan (played by Kimberly Elise), trigger flashbacks that tell her story. This approach robs the narrative of considerable suspense and is a little awkward, but the inherent strength of the material and the cast’s performances of considerable range and depth under Michael Schultz’s well-controlled direction largely overcome this structural challenge.
At age 8, Michelle (Jordan Moseley) is a bright, pretty girl who dreams of being a star but feels neglected by her single mother, Cassie (Loretta Devine), who introduces her to a seemingly endless series of “uncles” she never sees twice. Uncle Reggie (Clifton Powell), however, is different. He sees in Cassie a permanent meal ticket – and in Michelle a girl who will ripen in a couple of years. The seemingly inevitable happens when Michelle reaches 12.
It’s a classic situation but one that is rarely confronted with such candor and clarity, and such credibly defined relationships. Cassie, eager to hold on to her lover even if he’s a deadbeat, goes into denial when her distraught and horror-stricken daughter tells her how Reggie raped her. Feeling traumatized, betrayed and rejected by her mother in favor of Reggie, Michelle, as she grows older, ends up in a life of prostitution and drugs.
A three-year prison term, however, leaves Michelle determined to stay clean. Crossing paths with her newly single first love, Todd (Michael Boatman), and attending a series of Bishop Jakes’ revival meetings, Michelle begins to see that life may yet hold for her some positive possibilities – yet she remains consumed with rage at Reggie.
Elise skillfully expresses the shifting conflicts within the adult Michelle, and Devine brings so much humanity to the foolish Cassie that she can’t be dismissed as a complete monster. (At various points some characters address the camera in self-defense, which is a familiar but revealing device.) Debbi Morgan brings style and spunk to the film as Twana, who tries to make up for her friend Cassie’s maternal failings. Powell expresses Reggie’s despicability and weakness with equal effectiveness.
What’s so impressive about Jakes, a warm and burly man with abundant compassion, is that he isn’t preachy, in either the pulpit or on death row. He speaks to people’s real-life problems and challenges them to lay down their burdens in accepting the strength of a higher power in dealing with them. There’s a bedrock honesty in Woman Thou Art Loosed in its grasp of human nature and behavior. This is one faith-based film that pulls no punches.
Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004)
Directed by: Michael Schultz
Starring: Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devine, Debbi Morgan, Michael Boatman, Clifton Powell, Idalis DeLeon, Destiny Edmond, Amy Aquino, Porscha Coleman, Louisa Abernathy
Screenplay by: Stan Foster
Production Design by: Liba Daniels
Cinematography by: Reinhart ‘Rayteam’ Peschke
Film Editing by: Billy Fox
Makeup Department: Rebecca DeHerrera
Art Department: David Halver, Kevin Long
Music by: Todd Cochran
MPAA Rating: R for violence, sexual content and drug use.
Distributed by: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: October 1, 2004
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