The film established its own world. A world largely filled with love. There was little to no buildup to that explosion of violence. It didn’t fit the vibe of the rest of the movie. The relative lack of a reaction from the daughters made it seem like old boy was routinely abusive. I’m sure there was loads of domestic abuse back in the day (there still is now) but the only other moment of violence in the film (when The male lead, whose name I’m still not sure how to spell , shoved the guy away from his girl* outside the bodega) was set up to be more justifiable. The guy harassed her, she was trying to walk away from him, and he just wouldn’t stop. By contrast, that slap seemed to come out of nowhere and there were lots of other ways he could have responded. Even if he yanked her by the arm to pull her out of there, I would have understood that more than slapping her...

* I’m bad with names in real life and worst with film character names. I only remember his name because it sounds kind of like Fonzie.




>>The father slapping the Bible thumping mother after her
>final confrontation with the lead actress.
>
>>What she said was terrible, but that was still his wife.
>
>Seemed like he'd struggled with her 'holier than thou'
>attitude for quite a stretch and that he was just tired of it.
>And her cursing of that unborn child seems to have taken him
>over the top.
>
>She had the audacity to be a cold, disrespectful, and
>judgmental woman in someone else's home. The dude was probably
>embarrassed by it as well as having pent up frustrations about
>many other things such as her seeming disdain for her own son
>whom was adored by his father.
>
>I was honestly surprised that Regina King didn't do it. She
>was as graceful as she could be until she told old girl to get
>her stuff. LOL
>
>Them daughters though... MAN!


Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com