There are many themes in the novel and I think that the film captured the most important. I am almost certain that this is not all that was filmed. Oprah, only produced the film, she had no hand in directing or editing. There is a discrepancy about what the major theme of the novel is (we can argue about that for years). That is not the point. The point is, a film can only get but so close to the book. The movie was not called "Zora Neale Hurston's: Their Eyes Were Watching God", it was only based on the novel. When filming, it is not the director's priority to make sure that they are within their time constraint, that is the editor's concern. I am certain that the copy before editing was great. Just think about how long they had been filming! However, they only had a 2 1/2 slot with commercials, there is no way they can do the book any justice in that time. If it was a miniseries, despite all of the acting flaws many of you brought up, it would have been much better. Before we criticize how bad the film was, think about the timing, and scenes that may have been sacrificed just to get on TV. I am pretty sure that they wanted to make Ms. Hurston, proud, but in the film industry there are so many internal conflicts and setbacks that us viewers never see or know about. Who is to blame?
Review of Their Eyes Were Watching God
