It is sure to be studied, debated and cherished decades from now when Americans look to film for insights on who we are and where we have been.

Demme masterfully exhibits both the harsh realities of the time with the unexplainable mystical world that settles in and around them like a fog, even if he has trouble making the two elements mesh.

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Its spiritual messages, which are deep and true, redeem any structural flaws of this ambitious film.

a demanding, unsettling picture full of savage violence and deep-seated misery. Even when Sethe finds comfort in the arms of old friend Paul D ...the sight of their broken, scarred bodies coming together is heartbreaking rather than erotic.

Something rare: a brave film about the emotional toll of slavery, the anguish of memory and the cruel divisions that still sear African American lives.

Mournful and moving, eerie and uncompromising.

Demme's potent adaptation of Morrison's novel may be substantial, but it is also engrossing.

You don't necessarily enjoy it, in a sense, you simply experience it.

A knot of fierce emotions that is left for the viewer to untangle. Make the effort.