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But that's only the beginning. There are still demonic voices, blood-drenched babies and unexpected projectile vomiting to deal with.

And yet none of the omnipresent horror in Beloved feels false, forced or even gratuitous -- a strength which on its own should be reason enough to see a movie nowadays.

Beloved operates on the assumption that the audience can suspend its disbelief for three hours to step into the world of Sethe (Oprah Winfrey), a runaway slave living in post-Civil War Ohio. The suspension of disbelief part doesn't stem from trying to convince yourself that Oprah Winfrey is not Oprah. She actually does an excellent job of sliding herself into the heart and mind of a tormented, 19th-century ex-slave.

Instad, the stumbling block for those of you grounded in logic and reality lies in accepting the fact tha Sethe actually physically haunted by her past.

And this is no kindly haunting -- I'm talking flying tables and gore-filled hallucinations here. In its wrath, the spirit manages to run off from Sethe's home everyone except Sethe and her daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise).

But things really get rolling when Paul D (Danny Glover) hits the scene. Paul D is also a former slave who ran away from the same plantation as Sethe, and this collision with her past is the force which drives the action for most of the film. It's also the catalyst for some down and dirty sex scenes.

But this is only the basic plot of

the movie. Most of the urgency of Beloved comes from the fact that the audience doesn't know what or who the haunting spirit represents, or what or who the mysterious stranger who turns up one day, calling herself Beloved, could be.

But in the end, Beloved steals the show. Thandie Newton, as Beloved, is simply horrifying. I have never seen anything (outside of the rare "Twilight Zone" episode or a good-because-it's-so-bad B-movie) that rivals her inspired portrayal of this dark character.

Newton doesn't hold anything back. She drools, brazenly displays full-frontal nudity and speaks in tongues which I can only assume are not hers -- because if any woman is capable of making noises like that, then I pray that I never meet her.

There are even multi-layered novel-like themes threaded throughout the film adaptation of Beloved , such as the tenuous balance that exists between swallowing and being swallowed by the past, rebirth symbolized by water, nature as a place of origin, innocence and evil, and salvation and demise.

The nature theme is a little bit too prevalent though -- after two or three completely random close-ups of butterflies or beetles, I started to feel as if the cinematographer was banging me over the head with nature shots.

Even with the excess of nature shots, the sheer mastery of the cinematography and musical score in most of the shots in Beloved  turn even awkward moments into works of art.

There is a definite sense that a lot of money was poured into the making of this movie. The sets and costumes are authentic, even charming. And the acting is first-rate.

If you want to rattle the cage of your mind a bit, go see Beloved . For all of its hijinks and hauntings, it is still at heart a powerful story of our nation -- a nation that, like Sethe, grapples with how to confront the past without being torn apart.

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the October 16, 1998 issue.