Sounder

We often take for granted having an education system in place that attempts to make sure our young men and women grow up with at least a semblance of preparation for the real world. It’s not perfect, but it is there, and most people these days grow up with that as an ever-present aspect of their childhood. It wasn’t all that long ago, though, when that was not the case, and children, especially in rural farm country, prioritized working the farm over a formal education. Parents often wished for a better life for their children, but the realities of that life stood in the way. Going into the 1972 film Sounder, I had no idea I was going to be seeing a film about sacrifice and heartache, about a parent making the decision to put his child’s education and prospects for a better life above that of the practical needs of the family. It’s the type of sacrifice we hope we never have to make while also hoping we could should the need be there. It’s an emotionally moving picture that goes places that are haunting and inspiring at the same time. In the end, it is a movie with an uplifting message that drags you through heartbreak and despair before ultimately lifting you back up in the end.  

The setting is the 1930s in rural Louisiana. An African-American sharecropper family, Nathan Lee Morgan (Paul Winfield), Rebecca (Cicely Tyson), and their three children, raise sugar cane for their white landlord. David Lee (Kevin Hooks), the eldest son, is smart, reading books provided by Mrs. Boatright (Carmen Matthews), a local white woman who employs the Morgan family to do her laundry. Mrs. Boatright is sympathetic to the local black kids, most of whom barely get any education at all. David likes to go hunting with his father and their dog, Sounder, too. But one evening, they lose the raccoon they are hunting and have no meat for their table. That night, Nathan steps out unannounced, and the next morning, there is ham cooking for breakfast. Shortly afterwards, the sheriff shows up and arrests Nathan for stealing the ham. As he is being driven away, their dog, Sounder, runs after the truck. One of the deputies shoots at him, but Nathan deflects the barrel of the shotgun, and Sounder is struck by the shot, though not killed. He limps off into the woods and disappears. Nathan is found guilty of the theft and sentenced to one year of hard labor. 

This puts the family in a bad position. Without Nathan, the hunting falls on David. Also, the landlord is quick to call out that the planting and harvesting still need to be done, even without Nathan to do the hard work. Rebecca assures him that the rest of them will make up for his absence. Meanwhile, Nathan has been sent away to a labor camp, and no one is willing to tell the family where that camp is. Eventually, Mrs. Boatright risks her job at the records office to track down that information and get it to the family. But when David takes a few days to travel on foot to the location, he can’t find his father or anyone who will tell him where he is. Instead, he finds a school where a kindly teacher takes him in for a few days and invites him to come back the following year and gain a real education, living with her during the school year. But with everything going on, including being short-handed for the harvest, David doesn’t think he will be able to take her up on that offer. 

It’s a fine line making a film like this. There is the very real risk of presenting the African-American characters as stereotypical country fools who are always butting heads with the racist white people. This film doesn’t ignore the racial tension, but it is not in the foreground. This is not a film about race relations but about a family who just happens to be Black. We are to judge Nathan for stealing the ham about as much as we would judge Jean Valjean for stealing the loaf of bread for his starving family. He wants to provide for his family and nourish them, and in a lapse of judgment, he stole the ham. When he’s found out, he doesn’t put up a fight or deny the charges; he knows what he did was wrong. 

His bigger crime was jeopardizing the family’s welfare for the ham. By committing such a foolish crime, he left his family without his help while he serves out his sentence. Their situation was not so dire that it necessitated such a desperate act. This indicates that Nathan makes rash, poorly thought-out decisions. This is further supported in the end when he finds out David has a chance to attend school far away from home. Sure, getting the boy an education is the best way for David to avoid the same life his parents have, but how well will the family tend to their own land without him there for much of the year? Nathan makes his decision quickly, even choosing to spend money they need to pay their mortgage to buy David some clothes for school. We get the impression that this family is going to struggle a lot with the absence of David.  

Paul Winfield is one of those actors I have seen on television and in the movies for most of my life. I’ve seen him on 227 in a recurring guest role, co-starring in such films as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Terminator, and Cliffhanger. I’ve always known him as a middle-aged man. Seeing him here in one of his earliest roles is eye-opening. This is unlike anything I have seen him in before, and it is a nice change of pace for an actor who I always felt good will towards. Nathan isn’t the smartest man, but he is a loving father. You feel his disappointment with his own life and his desire for his children to have it better. He also loves his wife dearly. Paul and Cicely Tyson were good friends in real life, and people believed their on-screen love to the point that it was assumed they were a couple in real life, especially after they moved in with each other. It wasn’t until much later that it came out that Paul was gay and that living with Cicely was part of a ruse designed to keep the public from finding out. Cicely protected him in that way, allowing him the privacy in his public life that most would have denied him. 

The film is named after the dog, Sounder. Sounder plays a key role in the film, but one gets the feel that it may have been even more in the novel this film is based on. Sounder is not the spry young pup he used to be, and his age is a key reason why Nathan and David fail to kill a raccoon for dinner, kicking off the main plot. When Sounder is shot, in one of the most brutal scenes in an otherwise family-friendly film, we see it happen on screen. Sounder then limps off into the woods and out of the film for a while. When he does finally come back, he is a changed dog, only getting his voice back once he senses that Nathan is coming home once again after being wounded in prison. 

The emotional core of the film, though, is David. This boy is smart, determined, and capable of taking care of himself at a young age. When he finds a way to discover where his father has been taken, he, with the permission of his mother, sets out on a multi-day journey to see him. What he hopes to accomplish is not clear, but his main goal is just to see his father. But the guards at the labor camp attack him, leaving him with a wounded hand. This leads David to a nearby school where he interrupts the sole classroom to ask for help cleaning his wound. The teacher, Mrs. Johnson (Janet MacLachlan), listens to his story and allows the boy to stay with her before heading back home. She also gives him some books and an invite to come and stay during the school year so he can gain the education that is simply not available at home. 

There is a sequel to this film titled simply: Sounder: Part 2. In it, the whole focus is on building a schoolhouse to bring education to the area. None of the main cast from the first film returns, with the exception of Taj Mahal, who had a minor role in the original as well as provided the bluesy soundtrack. There was also a remake made for The Wonderful World of Disney. This remake brought back Paul Winfield in the role of the teacher and would be his last credited role before he died in 2004. Normally, I would not recommend a remake to a film like this, but in this case, it does the material justice and is a good opportunity to see Paul return to this material again.

Sounder is well worth the time invested to watch. It has a wonderful message about parenting and sacrifice without layering it on too thick. It also shows how a single action, no matter how good-intentioned it might be, can have major negative ramifications that are far worse than going hungry for the night. Nathan is a loving father and a hard worker but is prone to making decisions that unintentionally put his family in harm’s way. But there is never a doubt that he loves his family and is trying to do right by them. It’s beautiful to see, just as it is beautiful to see the family band together and support each other even in the face of seemingly impossible odds. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Robert B. Radnitz

Best Actor: Paul Winfield

Best Actress: Cicely Tyson

Best Screenplay - Based on Material from Another Medium: Lonne Elder III

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Release Date: September 24, 1972

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rated G

Starring: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, and Kevin Hooks

Directed by: Martin Ritt