Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
All I knew of Toni Morrison was that she was the author of Beloved, which Oprah Winfrey and director Jonathan Demme adapted into a film in 1998. I know, that’s shameful, but it’s easy to have tunnel vision when one of the arts- cinema- takes precedent over every other one. That’s where the value of a film like Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’s documentary lies, and why the documentary format is so important for film fans. This is about bringing stories to life in a way that is informational, as well as enlightening and entertaining. I’m glad that I watched it.
The film has interviews with Morrison, Winfrey, and many more (including Morrison’s longtime editor, Robert Gottlieb, and contemporaries) as it puts together the pieces of Morrison’s life. It begins with the author recounting a story in which she was young, and her and her siblings were writing words on the sidewalk in chalk. They saw one particular word, and, as they started to write it, their mother wouldn’t let them continue; it was the f-word, and they were ordered to immediately stop. In that moment, Morrison knew how powerful words could be. She would devote her entire life doing just that in her stories like Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Song of Solomon. All the while, she is pushing up against a literary world that has internalized a “white gaze” even on black stories. Her success is a credit to how important her voice is to her readers.
Greenfield-Sanders lets Morrison, friends, colleagues and people inspired by her tell this story, and it’s an engrossing narrative. We hear her talk about her life in Lorain, Ohio, what inspired her work, how her work has affected others, and how her career took off, culminating with a Nobel Prize for Literature, and other awards. This is a simple and direct documentary with talking heads as well as visuals that help set the tone for some of what those heads are discussing. It’s all in service of telling the story not only one of the great titans of literature, but an important voice in bringing perspective to American history that often got underserved.
