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Movie Analysis: DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN
Copyright © 2005 by Mary Lynn Mercer
Themes: fidelity, forgiveness, revenge,
starting over
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Year: 2005
To the eyes of outsiders and her own family, Helen lives the American dream. She has a huge house, expensive clothes, fine cars, and a successful husband who--publicly at least--adores her. Only Helen's diary reveals the tarnish beneath the glitter. Her gilded world finally shatters beyond repair when, on her nineteenth wedding anniversary, Charles drags her out of their house to make way for the mother of his illegitimate children.
Devastated, Helen turns to her grandmother. When Medea learns about Charles's behavior, she grabs her gun and her granddaughter and crashes the mansion's front gates. She coaches Helen in a feel-good fit of revenge, landing them both in jail and Helen no closer to getting her life back than before.
But is her old life what she truly wants? Or, does Helen really need to find a new life, and--if she dares--a new love?
Diary of a Mad Black Woman has everything. It's a domestic drama, a romance, a comedy, and a revenge story all rolled into one. Trying to fit these disparate elements into a unified and satisfying whole might spell a recipe for disaster, but instead is a complete success. While pain and laughter, romance and revenge all gambol through this movie, the emotional focus of each scene stays singular and precise and believable.
Helen begins the story as a weak and relatively passive character, riddled with self-doubts and insecurities. However, circumstances and the stronger women in her life compel her to mature rapidly. During the course of the story, she develops into a force to be reckoned with. Only Helen's carefully structured growth as a character prevents the two female mentors (her grandmother, Medea; and her mother, Myrtle) from taking over the story.
A mentor is any character who functions in the influential role of advisor or protector, and sources back to no less a figure than God himself instructing Adam and Eve in the Garden. It is one of the most powerful roles a character can play in a story, either implicitly (Bret Maverick's oft-quoted "Pappy" in Maverick) or explicitly (Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars).
Rather than bracket Helen with redundant mirror-image mentors, writer Tyler Perry positions Medea and Myrtle as opposites. One pulls on Helen to go down one path, while the other tugs on her to go down a different path. Medea orders Helen to pull herself together and get a job, which is sound advice but relies on inner strength Helen isn't convinced she possesses. Myrtle points Helen to a deeper well to draw from: the strength God has placed within Helen to fulfill her destiny. Medea preaches revenge, by word and example, while Myrtle ministers and demonstrates forgiveness. When Helen follows Medea's advice, it often gets her into trouble, but when she follows her mother's advice, it always brings eventual contentment.
One of the greatest joys in Diary of a Mad Black Woman is the love story. Though not the primary focus of the movie, it is nevertheless a potent factor in this story's enjoyment quotient. The emphasis on intimacy rather than animal attraction takes the romance to an incredibly deep emotional level. The deeper the emotions, the higher the stakes when true love is put at risk in the end.
A final touch rounding out the story is the use of a "devil's devil," a character who bedevils the villain in the story while posing no direct threat to the protagonist. The gangster who is Charles' worst nightmare has no connection with Helen, though his actions do eventually tie into the plot through Charles. His presence evokes certain emotions in Charles, like fear and uncertainty, that wouldn't have been visible otherwise to the audience. Thus, Charles feels less one-dimensional and more real.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman became an instant favorite of my family and mine. It's one of those special movies that can be watched again and again with undiminished enjoyment.
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