A Raisin in the Sun

(Daniel Petrie, US 1961, 128 min., DCP)

After a successful 1961 Broadway run, Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning, socially conscious drama about a struggling African-American family came to the screen. Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil) is a strong, proud woman who has raised her family on Chicago's impoverished South Side. Her son (Sidney Poitier in a powerfully charged performance) works as a chauffeur to support his wife and his sister. After the death of her husband, Lena inherits $10,000, and the family is forced to decide how it will be spent. Tackling issues of cultural identity and inter-familial conflict, the strong ensemble creates a brilliantly modulated and tense chamber piece.