In 1935, 99-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be buried on the soil where he was born to slavery, and that land is owned by the large Dabney family, consisting of Vernon, Trixie and their seven children, and to bury a black man on that land is a violation of strict Virginia law.
Acting
Keitel's barely-contained shame; MacDowell's brittle hospitality.
Direction
Styron's patient, literary eye — she's William Styron's daughter.
Writing
Sparse dialogue that lets silence carry 70 years of pain.
Director
Susanna Styron
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Susanna Styron adapted this from her father William Styron's short story; it's her only feature film.
The real Virginia law banning black burial on white land persisted until 1990s; Shadrach's defiance echoes true ex-slave narratives of 'going home.'
US
