In the early 1900s, a young girl named Sarah Rector inherited a plot of land from the Oklahoma government. The parcel, allotted to her under the Treaty of 1866 as a Black grandchild of Creek Indians, turned out to be rich with oil. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company set up shop on the acreage, and Rector became a millionaire.
“Sarah’s Oil,” directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh, packages this obscure piece of petroleum history into what it hopes is an uplifting drama. It opens as Sarah (Naya Desir-Johnson), a spunky youngster, accepts the deed and declares her conviction that oil flows beneath her land. Entertaining her hunch, Sarah’s father, Joe (Kenric Green), helps her strike a deal to sink an exploratory well on the property. Sarah also teams up with Bert (Zachary Levi), a quippy wildcatter who acts as a buffer against the predatory oil moguls trying to swindle her.
A David and Goliath story with big feelings, edifying speeches and a swelling score, “Sarah’s Oil” is a movie that will surprise nobody. Viewers might even make out a regressive strain reinforcing the feel-good mood: Let alone the incidental worship of fossil fuel — at one point, Sarah frolics in slow motion under a showering oil gusher — the movie’s emotional core is a Black girl’s belief in her white protector. Even as Bert proves less trustworthy than he seemed, he still emerges as a hero, shedding a sympathetic tear while vocalizing his lessons learned and prejudices overcome.
Sarah’s Oil
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters.
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