Steven Spielberg’s eighth feature was this adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 1982 novel, a forceful epic that spans four decades in recounting the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), a Black woman living in early 20th century Georgia. Celie’s life is one of hardship and anguish: saddled with an abusive, possessive husband, Mister (Glover), she finds herself beholden to his mistress (Margaret Avery) and intimidated by his son’s wife (Oprah Winfrey). But Celie holds out hope of being reunited with her sister Nettie (Akosua Busia), despite the brutality of her marriage and living within a society fundamentally hostile to her. A commanding cinematic exploration of myriad forms of social and physical violence against Black women, The Color Purple was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and endures as a seminal film about racism and sexism, in no small part due to Glover’s harrowing portrayal of Mister.