Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) – 3/5

Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)

This movie is a weird mix of silly comedy, serious drama and Christian movie themes. I think they did a good job of pulling it off, but it’s such a weird mix that it still stood out to me.

Tyler Perry has done several plays based on one of the (silly/comedic) characters, Madea. He plays her and also plays 2 others in the movie: one comedic and one serious.

The basis of the story is one, really two, marriages that are broken for two different fleshly sins. How do people react/handle the situation when they are wronged?

I was left wondering if the Christian influence and presence in the movie was cultural. Many shots of the Bible, church, people talking and referencing Christian things, topics and ideas. It wasn’t overt, but it was clearly there (though I wdn’t call it a Christian movie).

It was an interesting movie more for those reasons than the story itself.

SPOILERS:

Each of the offending spouses turns to the love of the flesh in one way or another. However, in one marriage, the offending spouse kicks the innocent out and the reverse for the other couple.

When the first needs salvation, the innocent returns to care for him out of Christian duty. In the other case, repeated failings have caused further requests to be rejected.

In the end, both relationships are restored in different ways. The first still winds up in divorce (all the Christian influence, but the divorce still continues) to stay w/ a man she has since fallen in love with. The first husband is redeemed by a change in ways and receiving salvation, but the wife no longer loves him and only helped him out of a sense of right.

The second marriage is reconciled when the offending spouse, the wife, goes thru rehab and returns to the church.

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