SOUNDER

US, 1972, 108 minutes, Colour.
Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Janet McLachlan?.
Directed by Martin Ritt.

Sounder is a beautiful film and rightly deserved the number of awards it received was nominated for. Its timing was right - growing concern for African-American? rights and a growing criticism of such black fantasies as the Shaft series, Superfly, Blacula, Slaughter and so on. This picture is of gentle sorrow and human dignity, a family story set in the Depression. The quality of family life and the relationship between father and son especially is warmly portrayed. These people are real people, very noble, perhaps, but dignified in their day-to-day living and in their resigned suffering of the constant disregard of their humanity. What is most harrowing is the ever-present humiliation of African Americans, in little things and in big.

1. Why was this film so likeable?

2. Could the same film have been made, more or less, with white characters? What does this say about the presentation of blacks in this film?

3. What were your main impressions of the family? What impressed you about them as a family?

4. The relationship between father and son - the love, the respect, the trust and admiration - the value of the opening sequences; Nathan's disappointment at not getting food, in being prepared to steal; David Lee idolising his father and disappointed at his arrest? The humiliation for Nathan?

5. How did the imprisonment strengthen the relationship between the two - the visit.. the cake, the warning that David should never go to prison? David's attempts to discover where his father was? David's long trek to find his father? What effect did this have on David?

6. David and his relationship with the other children?

7. Rebecca as a person - loving wife, loving mother, caring, resourceful, doing white washing.. working the fields, sending David Lee to look for his father? Her love and nobility? Her patience and resignation to the wearying prejudice - the refusal for her to see Nathan, the continual going back to ask permission? Rebecca as a woman, her dignity?

8. How did the film communicate by particular episodes – significant, even symbolic episodes? Which episodes stand out - e.g. the initial hunt (father and son. food etc.), the morning meal, the baseball match. the church-going (and God trying to get into a White Church), the children playing, the shooting of Sounder etc.?

9. The importance of the white lady - her treating the children as human, her respect for Rebecca, her attempts to find out where Nathan was (how big a risk was this for her?), the planning of the journey? The relationship between black and white?

10. The Sheriff - perpetrating prejudice. why? obeying orders? Unwilling to break out of patterns? Why? Not allowing human feeling to overcome him?

11. The prison sequence - the humiliation of prisoners. their garb.. work, being abused - the lack of respect. Prisoners as symbols of African- American in the United States?

12. The school sequence and Camille. What did it add to the film? David and the children? The believing of the boy's story - how important a sequence was this in revealing David to us, in revealing human nature?

13. Camille as a person, her kindness, lessons, house, books? What vision did she give to David? How would this encounter have changed his life forever?

14. The home-coming sequence - why was it so moving? What was your reaction? Why? How did it gather together the emotional response to the whole film?

15. How had prison affected Nathan?

16. The resuming of the relationship between father and son - how difficult? The problem of Nathan's ability to work and David's work? Going back to school? Nathan's following David and their "reconciliation"?

17. Why did Nathan not want David to stay as he was? Why did he-want him to learn and have opportunities?

18. How was this a positive film - in outlook, values, humanity?

19. Was it a sentimental tear-jerker?

20. How realistic was the film? How idealistic?

21. What could "Sounder" do for the African American image for film-viewers? For combating racism and prejudice?

22. Why was the film called after the dog? Was Sounder - mix-breed, farm dog, shot at, recuperating, companion etc. - a symbol of blacks?