Sounder

This is a great movie. It's what you call a slice of life, and the life that's investigated is that of a desperately poor, horribly downtrodden African-American family in Depression-era Louisiana. Love it for what it is.

When I was watching this in the movie theatre for the first time in 1972, I was seated with my other high school friends behind 3 rows of a Southern Baptist Sunday School class, that was amply chaperoned by about 2 adults for every 5 children. Near the beginning of the film, as the family and Ike are passing a clapboard church that has a white congregation, David asks his father why black and white people go to different churches when God is the same God to everyone.

Ike pipes up and says once, when he was in another town, he accidentally stumbled into a white church on a Sunday morning, and was lucky to get out alive. So he asked God, "why did fellow Christians practically try to kill me just for coming to worship You with them?" And God replied to Ike, "Son, at least you got INSIDE a white church - I've been trying to do that for 2000 years!!" And with that, the entire 3 rows of Southern Baptist Sunday School, children and adults, stood up and walked out of the theatre! The truth hurts. This is a truthful beautiful movie. So glad I stumbled upon it today - just as Nathan Lee was coming home. Sigh.

It's 1933 Louisiana. Poor negro farmer Nathan Lee Morgan (Paul Winfield) has a hound dog named Sounder. He's bitter about the hard times and his wife (Cicely Tyson) tries to comfort him despite their kids are going hungry. In desperation, he steals from the smokehouse and Sheriff Charlie Young arrests him. That's when a deputy shots Sounder. Nathan is sentenced to a year of hard labor and the family has to struggle without him. Rita Boatwright is the kind white lady. Oldest son David Lee sets off with Sounder to find his father. Kind teacher Camille Johnson wants David Lee to stay with her and attend her school.

Cicely Tyson's stardom is a little before my times. I've seen her in many things but I've never seen her in something like this. She is amazing. There are several scenes where her diminutive statute belies her powerful presence. She reveals an easy dignity, quiet strength, and endearing vulnerability. The pacing can be leisurely at times but it is never boring. The setting is perfectly southern. It presents a time and a place. The family has a desperation and a loving bond. The side characters are all great. The sheriff is a man of rules in a world of racist rules. The kind white lady falters in the face of power but recovers to do the right thing. This movie feels real and the realism accentuates the emotional power. There is nothing more powerful than the reunion. This is not a big story but it is a powerful drama of the heart.

I'd never heard of this title... but recorded it because of Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield being among the cast. When I finally got around to watching it I was delighted to see that it was set in Louisiana (where I hail from) back in 1933. I wondered to myself if I'd see any familiar sites? I did! I went to elementary school a very short distance from the courthouse (which was shown a couple of times).

I won't give away any of the plot... but it is a gripping tale of sharecropper's family... focusing on the eldest son, in particular. Much of it is difficult to watch, because of the unfairness of the era... but we must remember these things as not to repeat them.

Ultimately, I was moved emotionally... and there's also a fair amount of luscious cinematography to savor... along with some occasional kernels of humor... as well as some very hopeful lessons.

A gentle film about a poor African-American family in rural Louisiana in the 1930's, and the hard life they face. It's just a little too quiet and squeaky-clean in its dialogue and "feel good" moments for me to truly love, but on the other hand, there are moments of real darkness, and the film is touching in its message of perseverance and the hope for its characters to overcome a deck stacked against them. The film should also be given a lot of credit for its content and cast in 1972 - just compare it to other film depictions of African-Americans in this period.

The intimidating malevolence of the white ruling class is felt in cruel ways, such as shooting at a dog(?!) and not telling the family where their father has been sent after he steals some food ala Jean Valjean. It's also felt in ways that are silently menacing, such as facing stern, judgmental eyes as they constantly struggle to make ends meet because of the unfair sharecropping agreement, and when the boy simply glances at a giant house while on a walk far from his own home, one of my favorite moments in the film. The other is when a couple of different teachers give him books to read, the only shred of a hope to rise in socioeconomic class. I only wish the film had a little more edge to it, which apparently the book does.

Quote: Ike (recounting a time when he accidentally went into a white church): "...I went home and did me some praying to the Lord. I said, Lord, I went into this white church down in Row (County) and all I want you to tell me is how I ever got outta there in one piece." Nathan Lee: "What did the Lord tell you, Ike?" Ike: "He said, I don't know, Ike - you doin' better'n me, I been tryin' to get in there for 200 years and ain't make it yet!"

1933 Depression-era Louisiana is seen through the eyes of an adolescent African-American boy (Kevin Hooks) in this methodical and smartly realized cinematic drama. Poverty and near starvation almost become tragedy when Hooks' father (Oscar nominee Paul Winfield) is arrested for stealing a hog and butchering it. Immediately he is sentenced to one year in jail (probably dodging much worse punishment) and it is up to wife Cicely Tyson (in her Oscar-nominated role) and her three young children to make the money needed to survive as Winfield is shipped from prison to prison. And through it all Hooks dreams of a better life via an education. The film's title refers to the family dog/game hunter who gets injured early on and yet finds a way to persevere much like his family (this is a great element of symbolism found within the movie). A brilliant screenplay by Lonne Elder III (who received an Oscar nomination as well) and intelligent direction by the always good Martin Ritt make "Sounder" one of the lesser-known gems of the 1970s. 4 stars out of 5.