Raisin

Author(s): TD (TX)
Raisin

Directed by Norman Jewison
Written by Tony Kushner and Marsha Norman
Adapted from the musical “Raisin” by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg
Produced by Norman Jewison and Patrick J. Palmer
Distributed by DreamWorks SKG
Art Direction by John Myhre and Nancy Haigh
Cinematography by Philippe Rousselot
Costumes by Sharen Davis
Editing by Martin Walsh
Makeup by Greg Cannom and Colleen Callaghan
Music by Judd Woldin and Robert Brittan
“Hope for Tomorrow” sung by the cast of “Raisin”

Principal Cast

Jamie Foxx as Walter Lee Younger
Audra McDonald as Ruth Younger
Felicia P. Fields as Lena Younger
de’Adre Aziza as Beneatha Younger
Guy V. Barfield II as Travis Younger
Corey Reynolds as Joseph Asagai
Eddie Murphy as Willie Harris
Stew as Bobo
Melba Moore as Mrs. Johnson
John Stamos as Mr. Karl Lindner
Nathaniel Stampley as the Pastor
Renee Elise Goldsberry as the Pastor’s Wife
Monique Coleman as the Bar Girl

Tagline: “The Youngers. The Money. The Drama. The Music. The Film.”

Synopsis:

Framed by the back porches, fire-escapes and blankly staring tenement windows, the Southside ghetto - its youth workers, women, Lindy-hoppers at a party, a drunk wending his way home - comes to life in a powerful street ballet that culminates in the riveting portrait of a pusher finding his victim while members of the community look on helplessly. This world provides the pulse, heartbeat and framework of the Younger family's existence. And though in it exists joy, lightness, laughter and hope, it is, nonetheless, a ghetto: a world of such soul - and body - grinding oppression that survival sometimes requires escape.

In the early morning at the Younger apartment, Ruth rouses her son, Travis while she calls her husband to breakfast. Walter Lee, desperate to leave his job as a chauffeur and join the "successful" members of his society, thinks and talks of nothing else except the imminent arrival of his father's life-insurance check - and the opportunity it provides him to go into business as partner in a liquor store. Ruth reminds him that his mother is absolutely set against the selling of liquor, but Walter tries to get his wife to "sell" Mama on the idea. The more he persists, the more Ruth retreats into her morning chores. Frustrated and angry, he tells her a man needs for a woman to back him up and scathingly remarks on how rarely women seem to care about their husband's dreams (Man Say).

Travis presents another problem: he needs fifty cents for school. Ruth tells him bluntly that she doesn't have the money but then, softening as he heads for the door in disappointment, she succeeds in conveying to him much more than fifty cents of motherly love (Who’s Little Angry Man).

On the way to work Walter Lee encounters other members of his community likewise scurrying frantically to get where they're going - which, in his eyes, is nowhere. Later, driving his employer about the city, Walter grows increasingly incense at his position in life - and at last bolts from the car to act on his liquor-store deal (Runnin’ to Meet the Man).

Mama comes home from her job as a domestic. Clearly her enormous warmth and strength have given the family solid, if not always "modern" values and roots. It is her dream to get out of the cramped tenement quarters and into a house of their own - a dream she confides to her small, struggling potted plant (A Whole Lotta Sunlight).

At a local bar, Walter Lee celebrates his deal for the liquor store with Bobo Jones, one of his new partners-to-be, and Bobo's girlfriend. The third partner in the deal, Willie Harris, arrives and prematurely - in the absence of the money - the deal is sealed (Booze). Beneatha Younger, a rebellious young college student seriously intent on becoming a doctor and just as ardent about the kind of values she wants for the world, is also serious about Asagai, an African exchange student. For her, he symbolizes the intriguing continent from which her people came. At first teasingly, then tenderly, Asagai explains the meaning of the nickname he has given her as she stand enraptured by the images he creates of his country (Alaiyo).

Walter Lee, inebriated, arrives home with the partnership papers signed and notarized to find Beneatha, awaiting Asagai, engaged in an exhilarating, if largely hypothetical, "African" dance (African Dance). Learning that the check has come, he joins his sister in a moment of wild abandon in which he sees himself as a tribal chieftain, supreme in his own land and time, leading warriors in a victory dance. When Beneatha leaves with Asagai, Ruth again tries to caution Walter that Mama might not see things his way. In bitter anger, Walter flings her from him then heads for the streets. Ruth bars his way and recalls the closeness they once shared, asking what has become of their lives (Sweet Time). Their reconciliation is interrupted by Mama, who announces that she has bought a house in Clybourne Park, a white neighborhood. When she turns to Walter Lee for his approval, he replies with bitter cynicism that she is so smart, so right and so righteous that she has done him "right out of my dreams tonight" and storms away from the house (You Done Right).

Walter has not been heard from for three days. Mama, Ruth and Travis join their church congregation in a mighty gospel song while attending Sunday service (He Come Down This Morning).

After the service, Mama goes to search for her son and finds him in a bar. She tells him she has been wrong - that she "has been doing to you like the rest of the world." She places an envelope of money before him, explaining that she had only put a small down-payment on the house, and asks him to put three thousand in the bank for Beneatha's medical schooling - the rest is Walter's to do with as he sees fit. As she leaves, he stands, moved by the depth of her love, and then clutches the money with exhilaration (It’s a Deal). Although the Youngers, as a family generally look forward to the new move, Travis is not so sure. Alone, he takes a last, fond look at the old neighborhood (Sidewalk Tree). Walter returns home and, in a private moment with his son, tells Travis of his dreams for them both.

While packing to move to the new home, Walter Lee and Ruth seem to regain something of the "Sweet Time" they once had (Sweet Time Reprise). In a moment of high hilarity, they and Beneatha are interrupted by Mr. Karl Lindner, a white representative from the Clybourne Park "Improvement Association," who offers to but the house back. When Mama returns, Walter, Ruth and Beneatha announce that she had a visitor and, assuming roles of the hypothetical "Welcoming Committee" assure her how enlightened and understanding "we in Clybourne Park" have become about the Black-White relationship (Not Anymore).

In a spirit of gaiety, the Youngers, drawn together, resume packing. Shock follows, however, with the arrival of Bobo bearing news that the Willie, the senior member of the partnership, has run off with the money. In the face of catastrophe, Walter tears from the house, then returns to inform the family that he has called Mr. Lindner to accept the Association's offer to buy back their house. He's "gonna give him a show," tell him what he wants to hear; tell him anything - just to get the family's money back. He shouts that this is the way the world is - this is America where everything has a price. "You people want that neighborhood they way you want it? Then pay for it!” (It’s a Deal Reprise) As Walter retreats, Beneatha declares him "not a man … and no brother of mine!" But Mama, understanding his anguish, demands that her daughter "measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through to get to wherever he is" (Measure the Valleys).

Lindner arrives and Walter Lee, in front of his family and with his father's memory to spur him on, rises to the occasion and says his family has decided to move into the new house. After Lindner leaves, the moving men and neighbors start moving the Youngers. Whatever they must face in their new home, once thing is certain: who they are and what they stand for is intact. As the others depart, Mama stands alone for one last look at the apartment that has held so many years of her life (He Came Down This Morning Reprise).

What the press will say:

''Raisin,'' the musical version of Lorraine Hansberry's play ''A Raisin in the Sun,'' which was produced on Broadway in 1973, makes its grand debut onto the big screen and is less a musical in the usual sense than a play with songs. The musical, which was originally written by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg and is brilliantly adapted to the screen by Broadway writers Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Caroline, or Change) and Marsha Norman (The Secret Garden, The Color Purple), is a wonderful and beautiful work of art thanks to marvelous directing skills of legendary film director Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof, In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck).

The success of ''Raisin'' as a musical is that the score by Mr. Woldin and Mr. Brittan does not disrupt the essential dramatic qualities of the play by reaching for a life of its own. Instead it underlines, colors and occasionally expands those qualities. As a result, none of the songs has had a life outside the show during the last eight years, and one receives the score now as though it were a fresh experience and the musical composition is an eccentric blend of styles: jazz swing (Booze), blues (A Whole Lotta Sunlight), African-inspired (Runnin' To Meet The Man, Alaiyo), musical theater (You Done Right, It's a Deal) and gospel (He Come Down This Morning). Measure the Valleys is the song that measures the story's true worth. Even though the song “Hope for Tomorrow” was not an original piece of the musical, it magically blends in well with the musical and the cast does a marvelous job at performing this song.

The focus of the play is on the matriarch of the Younger clan, a role to which Broadway star Felicia P. Fields brings a commanding presence that gives tremendous strength to the dramatic high points and a voice that, although a bit worn now, has the authority to fulfill the demands of ''Measure the Valleys.” But the most compelling performances are given by Guy V. Barfield III who, as the young son Travis, uses his acting skills to bring out the warmth and the depth of a young boy who wishes to not leave his neighborhood, and he displays this through his song “Sidewalk Tree.” Audra McDonald who, as the level-headed but loving daughter-in-law Ruth, delivers a performance that exceeds an extraordinary range while her gorgeous singing voice gives the production its richest musical moments. Characterization and singing blend unusually well throughout the production, and this is mostly shown through de’Adre Aziza's role as the would-be medical student Beneatha, and she brings this sassy character to life. Jamie Foxx, the amazing male lead of the film, plays the key role of Walter Lee Younger, a man who goes crazy by greed and wants to buy a liquor store to fulfill his dreams. Foxx projects the character with great emotion and delivers an outstanding performance and one of the best of the year.

“Raisin” is a wonderful feel of emotions and this is surely a contender for this month’s Oscar season. From the directing, the script, the performances, the crew and the musical composition, this film with stand out among the other films and will forever be a masterpiece in the eyes of many people.

For Your Consideration
Best Picture
Best Director – Norman Jewison
Best Actor in a Leading Role – Jamie Foxx
Best Actress in a Leading Role – Felicia P. Fields
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Guy V. Barfield III
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Audra McDonald
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – de’Adre Aziza
Best Adapted Screenplay