I haven't seen it, but it got an okay review here--2.5 stars out of 4.

Excerpt from the StarTribune:

"...Elise ("The Manchurian Candidate") does a wonderful job of tapping into her character's painful psyche. But as a viewer, we're frustrated by Jakes' repeated interruptions. He's a forceful preacher, but the abrupt changes in focus derail the dramatic momentum Elise works so hard to generate.

Jakes deserves applause for daring to break from the typical wholesome style of religious filmmaking. He's trying to reach an audience that normally avoids proselytizing films. And he ends the movie with a plea for victims to report cases of domestic abuse, followed by directions to a Web site that includes links to agencies offering assistance.

Good intentions. Wish it were a better movie."

I never saw the play but did see the movie when it was first released. After all the hype I was totally let down by it. Perhaps it was too much action in such a short period of time or other factors that made it so unrealistic to me...while Elyse Neal gave a strong performance there were other aspects of the other performances that annoyed me...don't want to get into too much detail in case someone that hasn't seen it yet still wants to go. I'm all about supporting black cinema but I could have easily waited for this to come out on video.

I don't know if the play opened the way the movie did but I think it was the opening that made the ending so anticlimatic since we already knew what was going to happen. It could have easily been a great movie..instead its just ok.