Theatre in Performance of a Raisin in the Sun (2008)” Movie Review

            The movie was a class one in terms of showing strong family relationships and emotions, which keep them together through troubling times. It showed that how individual dreams of family members can tear them apart, but still, they tried their best to exist as a family living with the essence of conformity.

            It is a story of a black family living in Chicago, which is struggling with the money, and looking to fulfill their dreams with the insurance money, which they would get after the death of patriarch of the family. Lena Younger is the one, who received the insurance payment of her husband, and it has to be divided into the family. His son Walter was looking to invest in a liquor store for his dreams in the entrepreneurship field, and daughter Beneatha was looking to use the money for attending a medical school. On the other hand, Lena wanted to leave this house, and buy a new one in a better place than their current apartment. So, the aspirations of the family were colliding with each other, but still, they want trough everything, and remained together in the end.

            There are some main characters like Lena Younger (mother) & role was played by Phylicia Rashad, her son Walter Lee Younger & role was played by Sean Combs, her daughter Beneatha Younger & role was played by Sanaa Lathan. All three of them were amazing in their acting and dialog delivery, and emotional scenes were beautifully depicted by these characters. The other relevant characters were Ruth Younger (Walter’s Wife) & role was played by Audra McDonald. She wanted to have a better life for their son named Travis Younger, so she was agreed with Lena Younger that they move out of this apartment. The other major character outside the family was the member of Clybourne Park Improvement Association, who came to Younger family, and asked them to accept a financial deal, and leave this white community by selling their house. Everyone in this movie was above average in their acting; maybe near to their best, and showed much of class as well as variety in so many ways. When language of these characters is analyzed closely, it showed that they used mix of both long & short sentences, and their dialogues were filled with so much emotional words associated with the love, life as well as dreams of a family.

            The major theme of the play was family life, who are struggling together to live up to their individual drams, but did not want to separate the family as well. The second major theme was the racism faced by an African American family in a white society that how life is made difficult for the black people as compared to the white people. As far as music is concerned, there was no official music track of the movie, but music was very well part of this emotional drama, because sad, emotional and relationships scenes could not have been displayed beautifully without the background music. The sound was very strong in the background, and it kept adding a great taste to the overall movie and its story.

            The costumes used in the movie were very simple and traditional in nature like what an average African American family would wear. They did not show any luxury costumes and set was also filled with simple items like an average family would have. So, the set and costumes were not contrasting to the story of the family. When it comes to lighting, the lighting was on the lower side, because there were no luxury sets or characters in the movie, so lighting was used with normal effects. I must admit that production as well as direction of the movie was phenomenal. The emotional scenes were directed wonderfully, which really touched my heart. The tempo of the story was very much in order and consistent, and all elements were relating to each other without any contradiction.

            In the end, it can be concluded that overall movie is a must watch for the audience, who love the emotional family drama or who want to see the reality of racism with its various elements, because I really liked themes of the movie, which are very close to the every other average and normal black family in America.