Oprah's Movie "Beloved"

[Hootie]

So I'm in this Black Studies course and my assignment for a project was to pick out a movie, watch it, and answer some questions about it.

So I remembered that Oprah did Beloved and thought, how bad can it be? Well I'm still out on that verdict.

The movie is freaking nutts! It's like 3 hours long, it skips around, I had a hard time following what was happening at times...etc. I thought it was interesting, and a good portrayal of what it was like to be a slave...but the rest of the story line didn't really serve an educational purpose (a dead daughter coming back in the form of a Jezebell?!?!?!).

Has anyone else seen this movie, or read the book? I had some questions that I wasn't clear on:

1) The old lady that preached on the stump - who is that in relation to Sethe? Is she just a preacher or was she the mother-in-law?

2) When the "teacher" comes and Sethe takes the children into the barn to kill them, how is it they would be able to take her children? I thought Ohio was a free state....unless this was around the time when you could go into the North to get runaways - but even then, why didn't they take Sethe back with them?

3) What was the significance of Beloved being with child? I was talking with a co-worker and we couldn't figure out the meaning or symbolism.

4) I think I understood the significance of the "tree" lashings on Sethe's back - but just to clarify, was that because she'd told her mama she wanted a marking and her mama said no she didn't, and then her mama was lynched from a tree?

Thanks!