By Kayla DeKraker
SARAH’S OIL, which is based on a true story, releases in theaters this week, and the stars can’t wait for you to experience the powerful, faith-filled movie.
“It’s really cool, because you get to portray a person who is amazing, who has done so many things that probably you wouldn’t have done in real life,” Naya Desir-Johnson, the young star who plays Sarah Rector, told Movieguide®’s Kaelii Williams of her role. “And two, I kind of connect to Sarah Rector because of her community, the people around her, when they come together in the movie, and they fight together.”
The movie is “inspired by the remarkable true story of Sarah Rector, an African American girl born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in the early 1900s, who believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted and whose faith is proven right. As greedy oil sharks close in, Sarah turns to her family, friends, and some Texas wildcatters to maintain control of her oil-rich land, eventually becoming among the nation’s first female African American millionaires — at eleven years old.”
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Related: Sarah’s Oil: Red Carpet Premiere
Desir-Johnson appreciates that this story is relatable.
“It’s just really nice to be able to connect to some stories, because some stories, if you can’t really find them relatable, you start to lose interest…I want them to be fully engrossed, and not just say, ‘Oh, this is just a regular movie.’ No, this is about a person who got threatened, who had faith and love and community, and she knew what she was doing,” she explained.
Actor Kenric Green, who plays Joe, chimed in with his thoughts on the true story.
“From a faith perspective…being a believer beforehand and coming across the story and watching the Rector family walk it out, I think it’s this profound moment that I feel like anybody who lives a life of faith, where you learn about it, come to understand it, and talk about it, but then there’s always that moment where you have to go through it and actually walk out what you say you believe it,” he described.
He added, “I think everybody who has that you can relate in it. And sometimes you rise to the occasion, and sometimes you shrink back, you know, but to see…what the Rector family and the adversity that they had to overcome and go through with it…they didn’t have anything else community in each other. But you know, the faith was at the foundation of it was tremendously inspiring.”
Green emphasized that “the God they believe in is the same God we believe in today.”
Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Rose, added, “Even just being able to be a part of this story…telling this really important piece of history, it was huge from a faith perspective. You know, we were so grateful for it. It was an answered prayer. It was like it was an honor. We get to be a part of this. We get to be a part of letting the world know about Sarah Rector and her family and her community and faith.”
SARAH’S OIL releases in theaters on Nov. 7.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vKW2OamWc
Read Next: Uncover ‘Lost Piece of Black History’ in This Upcoming Faith-Filled Movie
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