THE COLOR PURPLE

1985

BBC Two, 11.15pm

Steven Spielberg’s masterly adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic epistolary novel is one of the most snubbed films in Oscar history: it was nominated for 11 but won none. Perhaps bad luck was to blame, as that year it was up against Sydney Pollack’s unstoppable Out of Africa. Whoopi Goldberg gives an exceptional performance as Celie, an abused Southern black woman. This story of love and perseverance is timeless, and still as powerful as upon its release.