A Raisin in the Sun
Composite Score: 85.93
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, John Fiedler, Louis Gossett Jr., Steven Perry, Joel Fluellen, Louis Terrell, and Roy Glenn
Director: Daniel Petrie
Writer: Lorraine Hansberry
Genres: Drama, Comedy
MPAA Rating: Approved
Box Office: $1.30 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
A Raisin in the Sun is the film adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s play of the same name about a black working-class family in Chicago who hopes that the life insurance check they’re about to receive can improve their situation. The film stars Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, and Steven Perry as the various members of the Younger family who live together in the same apartment – matriarch Lena (McNeil), her two children Walter Lee (Poitier) and Beneatha (Sands), Walter’s wife Ruth (Dee), and their son Travis (Perry). They are due to receive a $10,000 insurance check following the death of Lena’s husband Walter, Sr., and each member of the family has opinions about how to best spend it. The film’s examination of poverty, money, race, and class in the U.S. makes it a film worth watching. Additionally, both Poitier’s and McNeil’s performances earned nominations from both the BAFTAs and Golden Globes.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
As with all things in black and white, this film feels like a product of its era, which makes it easier for audiences to put off the ills that it highlights as things of the past. You see this with the posting of pictures from the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and of Vietnam only in black and white – there’s a desire to make it feel older than it is, farther removed from the present and our current situation. With film that’s slightly different, because A Raisin in the Sun was produced at a time when black-and-white filmmaking was still highly common, so I don’t think that director Daniel Petrie, writer Lorraine Hansberry, or any of the film’s cast intended this result, but it’s there just the same. It could be easy to watch this film and be impressed by the performances, feel for the characters’ plight, and even express outrage at the injustice of days gone by without ever considering the implications of the film’s themes in modern society – such as the impact of racist housing practices of the 1960s on modern racial inequality in the U.S.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
As a film based on a play, A Raisin in the Sun had to have great performances to be a success, and it got them in spades. Obviously Poitier and McNeil received awards nominations for their showings, but Ruby Dee and Diana Sands also give admirable performances as the supporting ladies of the Younger family. Each character gets a moment in the spotlight, and all four of our main characters make the most of it, acting in such a way that the audience is drawn into what they are saying and doing while communicating with them the themes and struggles that the film wants to get across. It’s a prime example of a film where the actors are doing more than just following blocking and delivering dialogue – these performances are the film, encapsulating the desire, the difficulty, the hardiness, the pride, the foolhardiness, the hope, and the admiration of their characters and the portions of society that they are part of.
With brilliant central performances that expand upon the themes of the film itself, A Raisin in the Sun elevates the content of the play upon which it’s based to earn a spot among the Greatest Films of All Time. While it might be tempting to simply observe the film and its depictions as relics of a bygone era, it’s important to remember the truth that it contains and the implications that it has for the present. Currently, you can rent this film on most streaming platforms if you’d like to check it out.