Martin Ritt

Sounder (1972)

Sounder (1972)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, April 2019) It’s unfair to compare a wholesome family drama like Sounder to the blaxploitation movement of the early 1970s … or is it? At a time when (white) studio producers were consciously trying to appeal to black audiences, the obvious play was to go for gritty urban stories that could empower black audiences and bring in white moviegoers. It wasn’t as obvious to make a wholesome family movie taking place in 1933 rural Louisiana, detailing the struggles of a poor family on a hardscrabble farm trying to keep it together after the father is imprisoned for stealing much-needed food. The mood of this Martin Ritt-directed film is calm, loving, triumphant over quotidian struggles. It’s a film that openly preaches for the value of education and kinship as a way to climb out of poverty, uniting against misfortune, racism and adverse circumstances. Even modern audiences will find much to appreciate in its honest appraisal about the impact of incarceration on families: you could show Sounder alongside other more modern films without feeling out of place. While nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, Sounder is now most likely remembered as a footnote, except when discussing the history of black-themed movies (thank you TCM for showing it), which seems regrettable considering how inspiring the film can be. It also features career-best performances from Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield. It’s also quite optimistic in its own way: Unusually for a drama that plays so much emphasis on the family dog (whose name is the film’s title), it doesn’t even die at the end!

Norma Rae (1979)

Norma Rae (1979)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, March 2019) While I’m not an active labour militant, I am glad to be a unionized, and thankful for the work the union does on my behalf. Unions are an essential counterbalance to the power of management, and all workers would be better off if they were part of a union. Perhaps more importantly: everyone would be better off if everyone was part of a union. Those aren’t particularly controversial statements where I come from, but one of the greatest cons ever perpetrated on the (North-) American population has been to convince people that unions are not in their best interest. As Norma Rae shows, this is not new—its story (adapted from real events) takes place in a small North Carolina town where workers at a local textile factory gradually realize the unhealthy working conditions affecting them. With the help of a union organizer, our heroine gets to upset things, advance the cause of a union and find self-fulfillment along the way. In the tradition of many gritty 1970s movies, this is a blue-collar story through and through, with Sally Field doing great character work as a brighter-than-average factory worker—it’s easy to see how the role led her to her first Academy Award. For such a small-town low-stake film, Norma Rae is substantially more interesting than expected. There are a handful of strong scenes (most notably the work stoppage that represents a significant turn in the plot) and a considerable amount of verisimilitude in the way director Martin Ritt portrays its down-to-Earth, unglamorous, even seedy setting. It also portrays its unionization message in a clearly understandable way, bolstered by believable characters and dramatic situations. At a time where unionization has reached an all-time low, Norma Rae’s message still resonates today … unfortunately.