Sounder (1972)

Poor black family in the early-’30s south is happy despite their poverty. Out of desperation at his children’s hunger, the father steals some meat from a nearby smokehouse and gets sentenced to a year of hard labor. The mother and her three children have to “crop” in his place and keep their spirits up in the process.

The power of the story is all about time and place.  Blacks were less than whites, women were less than men.  There’s not a whole lot of character development here, but it’s affecting despite its sparseness.

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