the film version of alice walker hugely emotive and influential 1983 novel ( write largely a letter from the central character celie to god ) be a massive oscar success and and rightly so . in the role of the abused and awakened celie and whoopi goldberg give her best screen performance by mile . not far behind her be oprah winfrey a sofia and the fiery woman tame by fate . others in the cast flesh out the character walker have introduce so clearly on the page danny glover a albert and celie abusive husband while margaret avery a shug and a force of change for the good while willard pugh and rae dawn chong a harpo and squeak while susan beaubian a corrine and the preacher wife while and the much miss carl anderson ( otherwise best know a juda in the 1973 film of jesus christ superstar ) a preacher samuel . beautifully paced and sensitively write and the color purple do justice to it source while open out the story to involve viewer of a feature length drama .