Woman, Thou Art Loosed

Pastor of ceremonies: No one upstages Bishop Jakes in Woman, Thou Art Loosed

By Mike Prevatt

Rock singer Bono once called the pope a showman, a proclamation he might reassess if he caught wind of Bishop T.D. Jakes' salvation spectacular. The Dallas-based spiritual renaissance man--pastor, songwriter, author, humanitarian and more--is a multi-sensorial experience, provoking the vocal participation of thousands with his sing-speak sermonizing. And though Kimberly Elise (The Manchurian Candidate) gets top billing in the film adaptation of his inspirational 1994 book Woman, Thou Art Loosed, he is clearly the star here.

Woman is the story of Michelle (Elise), a young woman on death row. Jakes--playing himself--visits Michelle, who reluctantly chronicles her lifelong downward spiral, dating to her childhood, spent with a self-pitying mother, Cassey (Loretta Devine), and her abusive boyfriend, Reggie (Clifton Powell). When Reggie rapes a pre-teen Michelle, Cassey turns a blind eye; eventually, Michelle turns to drugs and prostitution. After some jail time, she is released early on furlough, on the condition that she attend Jakes' three-day "revival." As she begins to rebuild her life, many of her human demons surface, threatening her rehabilitation. The film comes full circle when she encounters Reggie on the final day at the revival.

For a Christian flick, Woman is unabashedly frank and realistic. Film/TV director Michael Schultz (Car Wash) does not sanitize Michelle's descent, nor is he obsessed with preaching to his audience, thus making the drama all the more credible (if a bit over-earnest). He encourages a penetratingly gruff and no-nonsense performance from Elise, who ordinarily would be the center of the film. However, Jakes hogs the screen, especially with all the drawn-out segments from his sermons. This would be fine if this were a documentary about his life. It begs the question whether Woman would have done better to portray him with another actor. And yet his presence only adds to the film's power.