A Critical Review of The Film a Raisin in The Sun

The film ”A Raisin in the Sun” was very absorbing film. It touches on the “Black family” with big dreams but not “Big money”. The family of the film consisted of Lena, of the undefined leader of the family, Walter, chauffeur who had big dreams, Beneatha, daughter of Lena who one day wanted to be a doctor, Ruth, wife of Walter who was somewhat of a problem solver for the family, and Travis, child of Walter and Ruth who was rarely seen throughout the film. Most of the characters change over the course of the film gaining emotions of regret, solitude, and obsession. An explanation on the subject of change will be addressed throughout the essay. 

Throughout the film the Younger Family faced many problems, but the main problem was lack of money. The Younger family had big dreams, with these big dreams comes a lot of “money problems”, especially considering the fact that Betty wanted to be a doctor, and Walter wanted to own a liquor store. With these different dreams and mindsets comes a lot of conflict and sacrifices which brings about a topic of Ruth’s abortion. I feel that this topic was not discussed nearly enough in the film and it was honestly skimmed past. This is a major problem in the film, and the emotional part about the situation is that when Walter found out that she actually had the abortion he honestly acted as if he did not care, although he began to drink heavily. From my understanding of the situation she had the abortion due to the fact that her family was already suffering with money, as well as space, and she felt that the baby would be an even bigger burden on the Younger Family. Ruth did what she felt was right, even without the input of the family. In my opinion, I feel that that subject should be touched on more because that’s a serious subject and it could have added a bit more to the film. 

Over the course of the film “A Raisin in the Sun” there was a good amount of character change. This was due to the check of ten thousand dollars which most of the film revolved around. This check began to make Walter completely change bringing him to a state of obsession with money due to the fact that his “dream” was to be the owner of a liquor store, and also that the Younger Family had never touched that type of money before. Betty’s character change also was interesting because her change appealed to her appearance as well as how she behaved. She began to wear Nigerian clothing for women as well as think strongly of her culture. In my opinion he character change was for the better. The only negative I see was when she gave up on wanting to be a doctor. As the film progressed Walter began to change his ways once again beginning to think about his family and their well-being in his “Final Decision”.

 According to my thought, that was the best decision Walter could have made. It gave his family a better house to live in as well as better his relationship with his family. This, in my opinion, should have given Lena a sigh of relief when giving ownership of the family to Walter. If I had to rate “A Raisin in the Sun” I would give it 3-5 starts and would I recommend it, no to the youth or this generation, but to an older generation I feel that an older audience would appeal because it can be related to more by an older audience. A grandmother, a great-grandmother, older aunts and uncles, an audience of that nature. 

Conclusively stating, I only would recommend it to an older audience. My favorite character throughout the entire film was Walter, even though he was a little crazy in my opinion, but he still gave me a laugh. The film “A Raisin in the Sun” in my opinion means that you can overcome many obstacles with family, but the key is to stay together before anything.