A RAISIN IN THE SUN
(directed by Daniel Petrie, 1961)
***** (out of 5)
.
> Langston Hughes wrote a poem called “Harlem”, in which he asks: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun?”
. Uh- yeah. It does.
. This painful question was the inspiration for Lorraine Hansberry’s seminal play, about the dreams and disappointments in the lives of the Youngers, an African-American clan, crammed into in a small apartment in Chicago and straining under the pressures- both within the family and from the racist hostility of the society at large. Following the death of Pa Younger, the survivors bicker over what to do with the substantial insurance payment Ma Younger will soon receive. One child wants to go to law school, the other wants to join a partnership to buy a liquor store. Ma Younger has ideas of her own: she is intent on finding the family a new house in a better neighborhood, where with more hard work, they might live a better life. Sidney Poitier, plays Walter Lee with a fevered intensity, and Ruby Dee plays his pregnant wife with her usual grace and empathy. Their marriage hangs by a thread, and she is all but decided to give up the baby, in the face of cruel realities.
. As a theatre-mad teen, I remember gleaning the understanding that this was a culturally significant property, but that didn’t make me mature enough to seek out complex family dramas about race in America at the time. I had seen a performance at San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, but generally wasn’t that interested in interpersonal drama from marginalized communities. Happy to report, I have grown up enough to find fascinating drama… fascinating.
. This is a great film. No big surprise- it was taken from a great play that had so much to say about the Black experience in America, and sadly- still does. The script crackles with energy and the actors dig deeply into the material. Keep an eye peeled for Ivan Dixon of Hogan’s Heroes fame, and Louis Gossett Jr. in his first screen role. Claudia McNeil gives a powerful turn as matriarch Lena Younger, who is tormented by the family strife, and just wants to do the right thing for everybody- her son’s dreams versus her daughter’s aspirations: an impossible choice! The late-great Sidney Poitier (Goodbye sweet prince!), gave his very best screen performance here, yet did not receive any love at all from Oscar. A major snub. The entire film was roundly ignored by the Academy. Not even a nod for Hansberry’s brilliant writing. No justice, I tell ya.
. A RAISIN IN THE SUN is a tough, unflinching drama about systemic inequity, pernicious housing discrimination, (Oh, that piece of shit from the H.O.A., attempting to pay off the family to stay out of their nice, clean, white neighborhood!), the corrosive aspect of sudden money, and the relentless pursuit on an unlevel playing field, of an American dream that may be exactly that for Black citizens in early 60’s America:
– Merely a dream.
*
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