This Steven Spielberg film of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning book is wonderful, and wins five stars from me. The excellent cast includes Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg (her debut), and Oprah Winfrey (who back then was not even listed on the front cover.) I had never read the book nor seen the movie before, so the immediate intensity of the story took me aback at first. But it is so well done, and the hard won redemption all around so satisfying that I heartily recommend it. Watch it and see why it was nominated for eleven Academy Awards. You’ll be glad you saw it; these unvarnished characters will stay with you long after the movie is over. (Note: this film is rated PG-13 but there are mature themes represented here that many thirteen year olds are not ready for…)