Sounder

Louisiana in the thirties. A sharecropping family works the cotton and cannot find enough to eat. One night the father steals meat from a neighbour, is caught and sentenced to a year of hard labour. The mother is left alone in the field and the eldest boy sets out to find where his father is held. The family dog, Sounder, has been shot, has disappeared, and they are waiting for him. The subject is not poverty but the boy glimpsing the possibility of school. The teacher he meets on the road is the film's turning point; even the father's return does not displace that possibility, and the family's decision is the real subject. The form is calm and soft. Violence stays almost outside the frame; racism is conveyed not by shouting but by the tone of officials and by closed doors. That measured approach gave the film a long life. Behind it is Martin Ritt, who had been blacklisted and made films about exclusion throughout his career. It was nominated for four Oscars including best picture, with Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield nominated for acting. An American film centred on the daily life of a Black family and not built on exploitation was rare at the time. Kevin Hooks plays the boy. Who it is for: viewers who like family drama and seventies American social cinema. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a hard reckoning; the film is deliberately measured and never raises its anger.