Faith, Hope, and Love

Those who know me may think Tyler Perry is a little out of style for me, but I assure you I have sincerely enjoyed his work. I first heard of Tyler Perry while talking to my girlfriend. She mentioned he was a writer, which first caught my attention, and then she said he was a Christian. At this point I was all ears. I don’t know if there are a lot of Christian writers in Hollywood but I do know there aren’t a lot that take their faith and place it so directly into their work. When she mentioned that he wrote Diary of a Mad Black Woman I was pleased to remember that I had already seen this movie and really liked it. It hadn’t occurred to me until that point that that movie has a very strong Christian idea within it. It wasn’t until a few years later that I saw another Tyler Perry production: Why Did I Get Married. Once again I wasn’t aware that it was written by Tyler Perry. At least this time I found out while sitting in the movie theatre.

Anytime you go to see a Tyler Perry movie you can be sure it will be multi-dimensional. You will laugh, you will be angry, you will cry (or at least be sad), and you will be inspired. He is a master at bringing these elements together to create something that is more than just entertainment. Your emotions will be jerked around, but I believe sometimes our emotions have to go through a beating before we can finally learn something. Tyler Perry movies will do just that to your emotions and try to teach a message.

In Diary of a Mad Black Woman we have a story of a neglected wife who is in love with her very rich, but abusive, selfish, and adulterous husband. Her husband finally leaves her with no money and her only choice is to go back to her family. While there she meets a man that is charismatic and persistent. She is very hesitant at first because her past tells her to be careful, but she eventually lets her guard down and falls in love. At this point you think that everything is going to be fine with her and her new love—not unlike other movie. But this movie takes an unexpected and quite frustrating turn. The husband ends up having an accident, becoming paralyzed from the neck down, and his mistress leaves him. This once neglected wife amazingly returns to her abusive and now helpless husband and cares for him when no one else would. This movie shows a powerful message of unconditional love and forgiveness that this world does not know.

This is characteristic of Tyler Perry movies. I believe his goal is to project on the movie screen love that people do no understand, the humbling acts of love that make people, and especially Americans, scratch there head in disbelief and sometimes anger. Sometimes it is hard to believe that that kind of love exists but maybe seeing it on screen will open up a window for opportunity.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman stars Kimberly Elise, Steve Harris, Shemar Moore, Tamara Taylor, Lisa Marcos, Tiffany Evans, Cicely Tyson, and Tyler Perry. While this isn’t exactly an all-star cast the acting is good enough to draw the viewer in and inspire attachment to the characters.

He creates this perplexing kind of love once again in Why Did I Get Married. This movie is about a group of married couples that take a vacation together into the mountains. The movie starts by first introducing each couple in an attempt to show the quality of the relationship. Out of the four couples only one is partially stable and it even breaks down because of a child’s death that took place in the past. One couple is plagued by a workaholic wife. One couple a adulterous husband and an alcoholic wife, and once again another couple with an adulterous husband but with the most redeeming character in the movie as his wife. This wife shows the capability to push through a marriage and always have hope through faith and prayer to God. Eventually her jerk husband gets what he deserves after a disastrous dinner, which is the cause of everyone leaving the next morning. The faithful wife stays behind and is swept away by a local park ranger who is caring and the Godly leader she has been looking for. Tyler Perry once again creates a multidimensional film that will make you laugh, cry, be inspired.

This move shows the importance of remaining persistent and strong even in the toughest times because God will bless those who are faithful. It also gives hope to marriages that feel as if they are about to crumble. All but one of the couples works through their problems and start a happy and loving marriage. The movie doesn’t imply that the solutions will be automatic or they will come with ease, but it does inspire that through love any problem can be solved. With the divorce rate as it is these days this is a great movie for any struggling couple.

The movie has a few familiar faces but several new ones including Tyler Perry, Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Malik Yoba, Jill Scott, Richard T. Jones, Tasha Smith, Micheal Jai White, Denise Boutte Lamman Rucker, Keesha Sharp, and Kaira Whitehead. Once again not an all-star cast but I believe Perry does this for a reason. With famous actors we often have a hard time seeing them as someone different than their past characters. For example, I have the hardest time seeing Bruce Willis as a tough but yet quite and prideful cop/mafia member. Perry’s movies rely on the viewer’s ability to relate to the characters. The stories are heart-wrenching but if a character doesn’t seem real to the viewer then the story has no effect. With unfamiliar actors it is easier for a viewer to relate and find that connection because there are no prior attachments to alternate facades. It is like meeting the characters for the first time and learning about their strengths and weakness and struggles.

I think it is a shame that so many people look at an ad for his movies and immediately believe that the movie isn’t for them. There isn’t a lot of advertisement for his movies, but if people would only give them a chance they would see there is more redeeming qualities in them than most movies you will ever see. Yes, they are very different than most movies but more times than not you will come to enjoy something different if you only give it a try.

I encourage people to go and rent this movie. It will open your eyes to a new kind of theme, comedy, and acting. The movie will span a human’s best and worst intentions and abilities and somehow still leave you without any maliciousness toward any character. You will go through a number of emotional states and end inspired. You will see a rarely seen side of Christianity and most importantly see faith and love in action. If you are looking for something new, funny, and life changing check out any Tyler Perry movie or play.