Review of A Raisin in the Sun

Story and performance make Kenny Leon’s A Raisin in the Sun Shine

Combine Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, and Sean Combs, and you can expect magic. Kenny Leon’s adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning play A Raisin in the Sun doesn’t disappoint. Leon’s vision of the story—which encapsulates 1950s America, the difficult dance of love and family dynamics and financial struggles, and true grit with gentle honesty— is applaudable. Introducing the Sundance premier, Leon said, “I hope you laugh. I hope you think. I hope you cry.” We, the audience, certainly did. Walter Lee Young (Combs) dreams of his wife, Ruth (McDonald), wearing pearls, but his son, Travis (Justin Martin, who did a superb job), sleeps on the couch. The young family lives with Walter Lee’s mother, Lena (Rashad), and his sister, Beneatha (Sanaa Lathan), in a tenement where they share a bathroom with the entire building and fight cockroaches and the stifling pressure of enclosure. But Lena is coming into some money. Beneatha needs the money for medical school; Walter Lee believes it will be the fulfillment of his dreams. And Lena has plans of her own. An unplanned pregnancy, foiled plans, and tests of the meaning of love take foiled dreams and shape the family’s vision of what their real dreams are. Lena speaks one of A Raisin in the Sun’s most touching lines when she urges Beneatha, “Measure him right.” Measure this film not only for its beautifully crafted story but for Leon’s deft adaptation of it. He uses the sparse settings—the majority of the film takes place in the family’s apartment—well. The fire escape steps transform from a place where pain can only be hidden from but not escaped to a breath of freedom. Both Rashad’s and McDonald’s performances are breathtaking. Lathan is exuberant and refreshing. Combs handles his role with maturity and depth.

Posted on 02/01/08 by: hollystarley 12:16 PM