Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”
Sign up to attend Michael’s talk in Los Angeles on Thursday, November 20: HERE.
It’s easy for those of us engaged in America’s culture war to complain about Left-wing dominance of cultural arenas like Hollywood, and to bring awareness to audiences wherever woke propaganda rears its ugly head. But that isn’t enough to subvert or overthrow that hegemony. The only way to reverse the course of a movie industry that is openly contemptuous of conservative audiences and values, is for conservative storytellers to produce high-quality, alternative content compelling enough to draw audiences into theater seats.
That’s easier said than done, of course, but when it happens, it’s important for critics to draw attention to that content and for under-served conservative audiences to support that effort. If we don’t show what movie fare we are willing to spend our hard-earned dollars on, then nothing changes.
Case in point: a new drama, now in theaters, called Sarah’s Oil. Inspired by the astounding but forgotten true story recounted in Tonya Bolden’s book Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America, Sarah’s Oil tells the tale of the spirited eleven-year-old who prevailed against Jim Crow-era racism, daunting legal obstacles, and predatory oil speculators to become one of the nation’s first and youngest black female millionaires.
During the frenzy of the Oklahoma oil boom in the early 1900s, little Sarah Rector inherits a 160-acre plot of seemingly worthless land from a government allotment through the Dawes Act, which aimed to assimilate Native Americans into American society by granting them individual plots of land and U.S. citizenship. Black folks typically did not receive territory, but Sarah’s impoverished family had been slaves to the Muscogee Creek Nation.
Sarah, guided by an unshakeable faith and a divine hunch, is convinced that black gold lies beneath the barren soil. She approaches an executive at the Pan-Oklahoma oil company, who negotiates a six-month lease with hard-bargaining Sarah, sets up expensive drilling equipment on her land, but then abandons it, claiming the land is oil-dry. Later though, he returns to try to exploit the “piccaninny’s” naiveté and cheat her out of the property.
But Sarah is savvier and more determined than anyone, even her devoted parents, expect. A chance encounter connects her with an independent Texas wildcatter whose devious charm and relentless optimism exceed his luck; she offers the skeptical but desperate Bert a 50/50 partnership to get the abandoned drilling equipment on her property up and running.
Ruthlessly violent oilmen now begin circling like vultures, employing every tactic from brutal threats to racist guardianship laws in order to swindle the little girl’s inheritance. A tenacious Sarah must depend on family, friends, and faith-fueled resilience – as well as Bert’s wily defiance – to face down guns, greed, and racial injustice to safeguard her life and her legacy.
Sarah’s Oil is an unforgettable and inspirational tale, steered with note-perfect confidence by award-winning writer/director Cyrus Nowrasteh, whose always-unique storytelling choices include the indie thriller Infidel (2019), the powerful Christian drama The Young Messiah (2016), and the courageous The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008), which was instrumental in bringing about a moratorium on stoning as a punishment in Iran. He co-wrote Sarah’s Oil with wife Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh after stumbling across this neglected gem of a story.
Child roles are notoriously difficult to cast, but Nowrasteh, who narrowed a field of 2000 prospects down to then-9-year-old Adam Greaves-Neal as the boy Jesus in The Young Messiah, clearly has a knack for finding just the right needle in the haystack. This time he went through 500 hopefuls before casting, as the titular lead in Sarah’s Oil, young Haitian-American actress Naya Desir-Johnson, who shines in a role that demands a wide range of expression from heartbreak to ecstatic joy. Her chemistry with unlikely business partner Bert, played with just the right degree of broad roguishness by Zachary Levi (from Tangled and Harold and the Purple Crayon), is magic, especially in moments when Sarah shames him into digging deep for the good in himself. Garret Dillahunt is a standout villain as the avaricious oil baron. Even the actors in minor roles give notable performances, which is in no small measure a credit to Nowrasteh’s direction.
The score by award-winning composer Kathryn Bostic never overwhelms or pushes for an emotional reaction, and Johnny Derango’s cinematography captures the contrast between the sun-kissed landscape of Sarah’s property (the film was shot on location in Oklahoma) and the dark, claustrophobic interior of the poor Rector family’s humble cabin.
Director Nowrasteh described the PG-rated film in an email as “part Western, part underdog movie, Rocky with a touch of Paper Moon.” Star Levi told Movieguide he was “blown away” by the script for this “incredible true story” that “needs to be told.” Producer Kevin Downes of Kingdom Story Company said of the film, “Sarah’s journey is one of remarkable resilience. At Kingdom Story Company, we strive to tell stories that ignite a rush of hope. ‘Sarah’s Oil’ does just that.”
Indeed it does. For families wanting to avoid woke messaging, and wading through movie theater choices crowded with reboots, sequels, superhero franchises, frenetic animation, and a seemingly endless parade of horror flicks, Sarah’s Oil is more than just a breath of fresh air – it’s essential viewing, a powerful testament to courage and hope, family and faith, resilience and grit, and good triumphing over evil.
Don’t take just my word for it – the film has a 98% audience approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes movie site, as well as an 83% thumbs-up from reviewers (the New York Times gave it tepid coverage, which tells you all you need to know). Support it while it’s still in theaters, enjoy a great family film, and send a message to Hollywood.
Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior.
