The Color Purple: Moving, but considerably flawed but considerably flawed

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pistol and shot him. He doesn't have any doubts about killing."

Neither, apparently, do the other contras. We read about the murders of nuns, teachers, workers, and other civilians. Contras kill each other in arguments over prostitutes, or in envy, irritation or drunkenness. The contra high command finally is forced to execute field commanders, men like Suicida and Krill.

A contra official explains to Dickey: "We couldn't keep being mild; we had to set a good example and a good precedent—above all in the case of Krill, who had killed so many, well, commandos."

"Above everything he had killed a good group commander," said Krill's captor. "Right there in the camp. For pleasure. For pleasure! That was our complaint against him. It was too much."

These methods do not describe an army that is confident of winning the support of the masses, or even cares to try. In this the contras have preserved the outlook of Somoza's National Guard. From Dickey's book a psychological portrait emerges of The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. Simon & Schuster, 295 pp.., $3.95. Movie "The Color Purple" takes place in rural Georgia and Zimbabwe (known as Rhodesia under British colonialism). It spans three decades from 1909 to the beginning of World War II.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Alice Walker. The author deserves much praise for her knowledge of the era and her masterful blending of the lives and experiences of a few AfricanAmerican families and individuals with the people of an African ethnic group, called the Olinka. All of them are caught in the trap of white domination-American and European style.

But the novel has some drawbacks. For example, Walker has one of her characters, Nettie, come to the conclusion after superficial investigation that Africans are to blame for the slave trade. Without an alternative explanation, this statement only perpetuates the myths that mar the learning of Black history.

Black Americans were victims of legal discrimination, frequent atrocities such as MOVIE REVIEW lynchings, beatings, burnings, rape of Black women, and general emasculation of Black males. At the same time, the continent of Africa was ruthlessly exploited of its human and natural resources by European colonial powers.

The majority of Americans, regardless of ethnicity or education, are virtually ignorant of the real truth of the period covered in "The Color Purple." Just the other day I met a young white man who did not know that legal discrimination against Blacks once existed in this country.

Therefore, any Black writer who writes about the condition of Blacks during that era and desires acclaim from Black people today, has to include indictments of the people and system responsible for the hell that we caught then-and are still catching now.

The novel is written in the form of letters. Through the letters of Celie (later known as Miss Celie) and Nettie-two close, warmly devoted sisters-Walker male chauvinism, sex (heterosexual and homosexual), lynchings, white pater -nalism, capitalist and imperialist ex -ploitation.

The letters also detail the heroic struggles of Black people trying to understand and cope with their environment—and enjoy some aspects of their existence.

The "Color Purple" opens with Celie as a victim of sexual abuse and impregnation by her stepfather, a man she and Nettie believe is their father until they learn the truth years later. Their real father and his two brothers were lynched when Celie was two years old and her mother was pregnant with Nettie.

That incident is just the first of several negative portrayals of Black males. But the reasons for this negativity is not made clear—if dealt with at all. Moreover, these negative images are not balanced out by any positive ones.

The vestiges of institutionalized slavery and continuing white oppression is what is responsible for much of the internalized oppression that the Black char -acters-particularly males-inflict on each other and their families. That should have been elaborated in the film, not to excuse such conduct, but to heighten awareness of the pervasive direct and indirect influences of the dominant society.

But this lack of depth is more glaring in the film than in Alice Walker's book. The film is not an accurate reflection of the novel. Unfortunately, more people will see the film than will read the novel.

I found the film to be of high interest, absorbing, and worth seeing. But if at all possible, the novel should be read before viewing the film.

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