Sounder. 1972. USA. Directed by Martin Ritt. Screenplay by Lonne Elder III, based on the novel by William H. Armstrong. With Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks. DCP. 105 min.
In his 1972 review, film critic Roger Ebert wrote of Sounder, “It is one of the most compassionate and truthful of movies, and there’s not a level where it doesn't succeed completely.” In 1933, in a destitute, poverty-ridden small town in Louisiana, David Lee and his father, Nathan, go on nightly hunts in order to bring home raccoon or possum for their meager meals. In a moment of desperation Nathan steals a ham, and he is sent to a hard labor camp as punishment. Left at home with David and their hound Sounder, Rebecca Lee must find a way to survive. The crops need harvesting, and with only mother and son to do the arduous work, she digs deep into her core to accomplish the impossible.