Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Full Screen)

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Full Screen)

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DVD Reviews of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Full Screen)

DVD Review: Surprisingly not too bad
Summary: 4 Stars

In order to bring the two back together, the Ya-Yas (as they call themselves) go to New York, kidnap Sidda, and bring her back to Louisiana. They then keep her quasi locked up while she is forced to experience the history of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood through their record book. Along with the pictures in the book, the Ya-Yas tell her stories, leading up to the climactic story of when Vivi had a nervous breakdown, nearly killed her kids, including Sidda and her siblings, and ultimately ended up in a mental hospital. Apparently Siddha was unaware of a lot of what was going on and, as a result, has held deep seated resentments toward her mother for a long time.

Eventually Siddha and Vivi are able to come to grips with what has happened. Siddha realizes that her mother wasn't perfect and Vivi admits to not being perfect. Having found some resolution to the emotional turmoil that has upset them for so long they are finally able to let the past go and love each other once again.

My Comments:
I went into this movie thinking that it was going to be a 'chick-flick' that I wasn't going to like. I came out regretting my initial sentiments.

The story itself is really pretty simple. The hardest part, perhaps, is just making sure that all of the flashbacks fit into the present. There are a few places where things don't make a lot of sense and some additional information would have been useful, like, for instance, more information on Vivi's family - Why her mother hated her and why her father loved her so much? It also would have been nice to have more information on why Vivi ended up marrying Shepherd 'Shep' Walker (James Garner - older; David Lee Smith - younger). Without really understanding the backstory to Vivi it is a bit hard to understand why she had the nervous breakdown, but I don't know that you can ever fully explain why someone had one - you can just start to come to grips with the fact that it happened and the ramifications of it. So, despite not having all of the information I would have liked to Vivi's backstory, the story was pretty good. The only other thing I think I should mention is that it would also have been nice to see how this blow-up between Siddha and Vivi affected Siddha's siblings. Even though she was the oldest, they were all probably old enough to remember at least some of the things that happened (this may be addressed in the book).

As for the acting, I was very impressed. I've never really thought Sandra Bullock was a great actress. So, when I saw that she was the main character in this film, or at least, was supposed to be, I was a bit worried. Well, she was okay, but she really isn't the actress to watch. Ashley Judd is the one who really has to push the limits of her acting ability and she does a great job. I think Ashley Judd has a lot of talent and was a very convincing younger Vivi, including the time during the emotional breakdown. The older Ya-Yas were also very good. Whenever they were on screen they pretty much stole the show from everyone else which, again, I can't say I minded because I'm not a huge fan of Sandra Bullock. The one person who I wish would have had more screen time but did great with what he had was James Garner, who truly did a great job of playing the role of a saintly husband who put up with a lot.

Overall, I surprised myself by finding ways to relate with this film. I would suspect that pretty much every child holds some resentments towards their parents. I know this is a bit Freudian, but those feelings can later emerge as relevant to people's attitudes towards their parents and life in general. I think this movie (which is based on a book) does a great job of dealing with those issues and illustrating how devastating they really can be. I highly doubt that any parent can prevent their kids from having issues with them, but this does give a good example of how those issues can be addressed at a later point, when both are adults and able to better understand how one's actions affected the other. Maybe I'm reading too much into the movie and all of this psycho-babble Freudian analysis isn't really there, but I think it is. Anyway, it is a movie that tugs on the heart strings, but I think most people can relate to the reasons why. Because of that I would recommend this movie for pretty much anyone that has a mother, which means everyone (whether you know who she is/was or not).

Description of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Full Screen)