When I was around 8 or 9, my parents let me watch Sounder with them. I sat on the floor in front of the television. My parents were behind me on the couch. During the scene when Nathan returns home – that incredible scene – I felt an explosion of feeling inside of me, and I was so young I had never felt anything like that before in a movie made for kids. I glanced behind me at my parents and I saw that my mother was sitting there with tears streaming down her face. It shocked me. It made such an impression. I had never seen her cry like that before.
I look at that moment as a watershed “A-ha” moment. I was a child. My mother’s reaction confirmed to me that what was going on for me was also going on in the Grownup Land (which wasn’t always the case). I remember thinking, vaguely, in an 8 year old way – “Wow. Okay. So this must REALLY be good if grownups are crying.”
And – in looking back – it was the first time I realized what art could do, what the movies could do. I had responded to movies before. I had loved movies before. But there was something about seeing this one with my parents – and catching my mother’s pure response to it – that made me realize that art was serious, it could touch people in this way.
I have never written about Sounder before, and finally I got a chance to. My essay on Sounder is now up at Film Comment.
I read your review. Now I want to go watch the movie. I read the book years ago. I haven’t reread it because it not only made me sad, it also made me sick at injustice.
The book on social/historical issues like this that moved me most intensely as a child was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I was first exposed to it from a children’s radio program called The Spider’s Web on National Public Radio out of Boston (WGBH, I believe). We listened to that often (my parents didn’t believe in television, but, thank heavens, they encouraged me to read!) It was more like radio theater with different voices, sound effects, and music. It was absolutely gripping. It captivated me entirely as I was caught up into Cassie’s experiences, so different from my own. I have since tried to find that radio broadcast (it was several weeks’ worth) — I even contacted WGBH — but I have never found any information on who did it or if it is still available somewhere. I will never forget the way the haunting music, the intense scenes, and the unfair treatment of the Logan family and their friends.
Aslan – thank you for reading. I remember Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry very well! Interesting about the radio program – it’s gotta be archived somewhere, wow, it sounds amazing. and WGBH! My whole family’s from Boston. :)
Sounder is a powerful book – the movie doesn’t soft pedal the injustice – it shivers with anger at what was done to this man, to this family, to a whole people. The movie is well worth seeing.