Adapted from the novel of the same name, Sounder tells the story of a struggling African American family during the depths of the Great Depression. Though it adds and subtracts a handful of details, it stays close to William H. Armstrong’s Newbery award-winning book, giving audiences a timeless and powerful story.
Now nearly half a century old, Sounder feels worlds away from the movies of today, not so much because of how it looks but because of its sheer focus on storytelling. No distractions or cheap gimmicks stand in the way of us getting to know the film’s courageous characters and the drama of the hurdles they face.
And those hurdles are many. Confronted by the daily scourge of racism, the Morgan family—father and mother and three children—must also struggle through the dire times of the depression. Food is scant, wages are small, and the sharecropping work that Nathan does is a brutal task. Additionally, a psychological weight hangs over his head, knowing that the sweaty hours spent toiling in the late afternoon sun only makes Perkins—the cold, uncaring landowner—build his wealth while Nathan can barely feed his family. It’s a cold, hard reality.
One night, after the beloved family dog (Sounder) fails to catch food while Nathan and David (father and eldest son) are out hunting, Nathan makes a decision. The next morning, a ham is on the table. Where did it come from? Nathan is mute at first, but finally says to his wife, Rebecca, “I did what I had to do.”
That same day, shortly after the family has gleefully watched Nathan victoriously pitch in a friendly baseball game, a sheriff and deputies show up at the Morgan’s house. Nathan is handcuffed and put on the back of a vehicle. As it drives away, the ever loyal Sounder runs after it. The heartless sheriff fires at him; blood drops to the ground.
And so begins a new, ever more difficult stage of life for the family. For David in particular, it’s a stage filled with learning and hardships and new relationships. It’s the beginning of his journey from boyhood into a young man.
This transformation is at the heart of Sounder, and it’s what makes the film such a pleasure to watch. Although one or two events in the narrative feel too fortuitous, it doesn’t undermine the satisfaction of watching Rebecca wisely and passionately raise her children. Never does the family succumb to bitterness or hostility, despite the understandable reasons they’d have for doing so. They are too proud and too strong. They know their value.
Along with helping the family take up the duties of sharecropping, David searches for his father. Sentenced to one year’s hard labor, Nathan has been taken to a camp; but the callous prison system won’t even tell the family what specific one. It’s throwing salt into the wounds, cruelty for cruelty’s sake.
Yet in this story which showcases some of the worst sides of human nature, we also see forces of good. Mrs. Boatwright, a woman that Rebecca sometimes does ironing for, treats the family with respect and courtesy. She even gives David, whom she knows has a desire for learning, books to read and the offer to discuss them once he’s finished.
Mrs. Boatwright does a further kind act when she makes an effort to find out where Nathan is located. After passing along the information, David goes on a long, solitary walk to the place he might be. It’s a trip he must take alone. Not even Sounder, who ran off after being shot and may or may not be alive, is there to accompany him.
David’s excursion leads him to experience further examples of kindness and hatred, as well as examples of strength. He happens to hear from a boy about his own age how he managed to save his drowning sister even though he couldn’t swim. He just knew he had to do it, the boy says. David of course can relate: he’s on a mission of his own that requires strength and determination, whether he believes he has the mettle or not.
Like many stories about fathers and sons and the process of growing up, David’s journey brings him closer to his father while also setting him on a course of his own. The unjustness of David’s time and place influence, but don’t determine, his future.
Sounder is a powerful story told simply and told well. It’s relatively slow pace and lack of showiness might be a turn off for some. Yet if a movie can draw viewers in through the pure value of what it presents—a young protagonist confronting an unfair world and learning about himself and his potential in the process—then Sounder has as good a chance as any to delight its viewers.
Spectatio 