If you're planning to see Tyler Perry's movie, "For Colored Girls," take some tissue, or maybe a handkerchief. It left me so moved that it took me a couple of hours to compose myself.

Based on poet Ntozake Shange's book and play, "For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide: When The Rainbow is Enuf," the movie examines the complexities of being a black woman by looking into the lives of eight characters who represent various colors of the rainbow.

The eight actresses -- Thandie Newton (Orange), Kimberly Elise (Brown), Janet Jackson (Red), and Loretta Devine (Green), Kerry Washington (Blue), Whoopie Golberg (White), Anika Noni Rose (Yellow) and Tessa Thompson (Purple) – all give powerful and heartfelt performances that at times I found disturbing.

For example, there’s Newton's portrayal of Tangie, a wayward and loose young woman who looked for sexual redemption in any man who would allow her to bring him home. The ease with which Newton plays her character will make you either dislike her or want to give her a hug as she gave away parts of herself effortlessly.

Devine's portrayal of Juanita, a loud-talking, needy, jilted lover, was as familiar to me as one of my aunts sitting across the kitchen table back in the day, shooting the breeze about some man who did her wrong.

Perry used verses of poetry from Shange's book to highlight pivotal moments. For example, Devine's monologue about wanting all her things back after she experiences heartbreak is definitely something I'm sure a lot of women will relate to.

What moved me most was how the movie looks at our struggles in a way that was both truthful and unapologetic.

This is the first movie I've seen that does an accurate job of revealing parts of our struggles as black women as we deal with deception, abuse, insecurities, low self-esteem, jealousy, molestation, trust, sibling rivalry, rape, drugs, money, alcohol, social status and the list could go on and on.

Some scenes made me feel as though Shange looked into my heart over 35 years ago and decided to expose feelings that I have only admitted to myself.

I felt as if these women's stories were my story, and possibly the story of any other black woman who has lived, loved and sometimes made bad decisions, especially when it comes to men.

While the male characters in the movie aren't glowing either, actors Michael Ealy (Beau Willie) and Cahill Akin (Bill) gave especially chilling performances. Hill Harper (Donald) plays the movie’s only good guy.

The plot deals with multiple stories, all connected by the one emotion we all want -- love. Unfortunately, the journey to get there isn't always easy.

While there will be many conversations about this movie over the coming weeks, I hope people who see it will go beyond the usual critique of Perry, who, by the way, did an excellent job directing and writing this screenplay. I hope women will began to talk about some of the issues the film exposed.

Perhaps the character Tangie says it best: "Being alive and being a woman is all I got, but being colored is a metaphysical dilemma I haven't conquered yet."

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