MovieChat Forums > Sounder (1973) Discussion > Questions...(possible spoilers)

Questions...(possible spoilers)

posted 14 years ago by Blondfashionisto
4 replies | jump to latest

I loved the movie but wasn't sure about a couple of items (I might have just missed the point whilst watching the film on television):

1. Why can't the Sheriff tell the family where the father is? (I guess it's because they're nervous about a 'breakout'...)? And, what difference does it make if the prisoner is black?

2. What does Rebecca receive in the buckets from the land owner? I know it's their 'share' of the crop, but it doesn't look like it's corn, which is what they seem to be growing.

3. What are the corn stalks being ground up for? I assume food for farm animals but I'm uncertain as to why they just being crushed and not fully chopped up.

Thoughts, anyone?

'This isn't a smile. It's the lid on a scream.' - Bet Lynch, Coronation Street

[–] jugheadchad 14 years ago

The buckets received from the landowner is Syrup. I assume the crop is Ribbon Cane. The Mule setup is the process they used back then to make the syrup. Ribbon Cane syrup was very popular during the Depression. Especially in East Texas and West Louisiana where this movie is set. It thrived in the Western Louisiana climate. Sugarcane was popular too but it was more of a Rich person's choice being it had to be imported. They may have got 5 cents a bucket, but during that time that was enough for them to get by. I've seen Ribbon Cane syrup being made with the mule system dozens of times. It is portrayed very accurately in this movie. Also showing the prisoners working at the sawmill is accurately portrayed since Ribbon Cane Syrup and Logging were a popular industry for Texas and Louisiana during that time.

[–] Blondfashionisto 14 years ago

Thanks, jugheadchad for that thorough explanation. I truly believe you can learn something new every day and this is the proof!

As I grew up in Canada, I was very familiar with Maple Syrup (in Public School we actually visited the 'Sugar Bush' - The rural farm area where they made the maple syrup. I visited such a farm as an adult but by then the process was very modernised so it wasn't as interesting (i.e. when I went in the 70's, they had 'drip buckets' affixed to the trees that collected the sap; and, the sap was then boiled outside in a big caldren over a fire; now the sap is transported by tubes in the trees and pumped).

Well, here's another reason to love this movie - Besides the outstanding acting, it features an excellent depiction of that period in the south.

'This isn't a smile. It's the lid on a scream.' - Bet Lynch, Coronation Street

[–] jugheadchad 14 years ago

Well, here's another reason to love this movie - Besides the outstanding acting, it features an excellent depiction of that period in the south.

That's the one thing I reflected upon after viewing this movie. The Coon hunt that started the movie is another example. I've participated in many Coon hunts as a child and they portrayed it very accurately. My Grandfather had two of the best Coon dogs around. They were fed just as well as the family. You can still find "farms" that look like theirs (in the movie)around the Louisiana/Texas border. And still plenty of Coon hunters.

[–] cmashieldscapting 9 years ago

I didn't know what to make of the depiction of the law against informing black families of their jailed members' whereabouts, or of David Lee's schooling. Being unfamiliar with every law of that time and place, it still seems to anyone at all acquainted with the general period, strict segregation in every public and a good many private places was the law, right down to drinking fountains--it was as illegal for a "white" person to drink from a "colored" fountain as the other way around--so it seems David Lee and the few other "colored" children should not have been allowed in a "white" classroom, even sitting quietly in the back of the room.