Euzhan Palcy is rightfully acknowledged in many a film circle as the forerunner for women of color directing feature films. After the success of this film (which was the only film to out-gross E.T. in her home country of Martinique the year of its release), she went on to direct A Dry White Season, the first Hollywood production helmed by a African-American woman. Upon watching Sugar Cane Alley it isn’t difficult to imagine such infamous figures as Francois Truffaut encouraging her to pursue the dream she had realized at 17 years of age.
Sugar Cane Alley is based on a book by Josef Zobel, a fellow Martinique native. It’s a coming-of-age story that centers on the relationship of a bright schoolboy and the grandmother who refuses to see his future in the cane fields. The setting may be the sugar cane slums of the 1930’s but the theme is universal. No matter what color you are, you will easily be able to relate to the story as every parental figure wants a better life for their children than what they endured, while a child fights between being young and being responsible.
Jose’s mother has died before the film begins and his grandmother, Ma Tine, raises him single-handedly with a rough affection common to circumstance. It’s a hard knocks life between indentured servitude, peer and class pressure, and the flippant tendencies of youth. The film begins during a school break, when adults still must go to the fields and the kids are left to mischief. Jose gets into trouble when another youth breaks a bowl that his mother left behind. He is beaten for this, but not for a fire accidentally set by the group of youngsters when they get drunk. The former is plain irresponsibility, but the latter serves as another lesson entirely.
As Ma Tine sees it, the children getting drunk are only following the same circle as their parents. In retaliation for this mistake, Jose is separated from his friends. It is at this point that Jose really begins to push himself to his potential. Having seen how hard his grandmother and peers work in the fields, and not being allowed to participate even when he asks to help, he has no choice but to focus on what she would want for him.
