I understand there are a million things other than fidelity to consider when viewing an adaptation, but I still wish to comment that this film was very true to the text of the play. It was so close that I feel the writer Lorraine Hansberry must have had heavy involvement with the film. Most of the dialog is word for word with the text. That's totally fine, it was just an observation.
Another observation I made was the subtle censoring of some of the dialog. For example, "the most backward race of women (play)" vs. "the most backward nation of women (film)". Other racially specific lines of dialog throughout the film were also modified. Enough of it is left in the dialog, however, that I do not feel the minor censoring detracted from the dialogs impact.
Toward the end of the movie, there was an additional conversation between Walter and Mama that I do not recall reading in the screenplay. It is a conversation in which Walter asks Mama why she left the south, and equates her journey and risk with his own ambitions.
I felt George had much less of a role and his character was not explored as much in the film. Asagai on the other hand was just as much if not more involved. Asagai seemed much more a good guy in the film than he did in the book, and George seemed less a jerk. Mama's role was acted very well. I thought mama was awesome. Travis is funny. Beneatha was muchhh more annoying to me in the film.
Overall, I enjoyed the film. I feel that it was a successful adaptation in its honest and uncolored interpretation of the play, although I do not feel it added or commented on the existing text.
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