Sounder     

By Tom Keogh

Martin Ritt (Hud) directed this wonderful 1972 drama about a family of African American sharecroppers in rural Louisiana during the Great Depression. When the father is sent to jail for stealing food to feed his family, the others regroup in order to survive. Cicely Tyson brings grace and strength to her role, and director Martin Ritt pushes the story well past nostalgia toward an understated but obvious look at burgeoning self-determination among blacks (even the roots of future militancy). If Ritt, a white director, can't get any closer to the characters' experience than he already does, he is still a fine storyteller and this is a terrific tale.

Academy Awards

Sounder received Academy Awards nominations for Best Picture (Robert B. Radnitz - Producer), Actor (Paul Winfield), Actress (Cicely Tyson), and Writing (Best Screenplay based on material from another medium; Lonne Elder, III).

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