“Faith Triumphs Over Evil”
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What You Need To Know:
SARAH’S OIL is extremely well directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. Zachary Levi gives his best performance yet in a movie. Everyone else in the cast is also great, including Naya Desin-Johnson as Sarah. SARAH’S OIL is extremely well written, with intense jeopardy that’s relieved by wonderful humor and spiritual drama. The ending is terrific. SARAH’S OIL has an inspiring, uplifting Christian, moral worldview. MOVIEGUIDE® applauds SARAH’S OIL. However, there’s a smattering of foul language and some scary violence, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children.
Content:
Very strong Christian, redemptive, morally uplifting worldview with Christian songs, prayer and a major character is challenged not to sell his soul for material riches, plus movie promotes being an honest businessperson and rebukes dishonest business practices and unfair, fraudulent practices by government officials;
Five “d” words, but young girl rebukes man for his profanity;
Strong and light violence includes thugs shoot dog, and dog disappears as if it crawled off to die, some children are reported being shot (which is shocking), goons shoot one man and beat another man, and a big showdown occurs between the good guys and a multitude of thugs;
No sex;
No nudity;
Some alcohol use;
No smoking or drugs; and,
One major character is a typical con man and to get the money to drill gives away more than 100% of shares to some ladies with money and convincing each of them he will marry them.
More Detail:
The movie opens with a famous quote from J. Paul Getty. A rich oilman, Getty once reportedly said, “The meek shall inherit the world, but not the mineral rights.”
In 1907, Sarah visits town with her father to receive 190 acres of Oklahoma Territory. Typically, African Americans did not receive territory, but Sarah’s family had been slaves to the Creek Nation. Many of the tribes had slaves, and the government gave the tribes property after they moved to Oklahoma.
However, Sarah’s father tells her when they get to her little cabin that they’re not going to be able to keep the land because they’re going to owe $30 in taxes in a few months. This doesn’t faze Sarah, who says the “Good Lord” gave the land to me. So, when she looks at the land, she hears rumbling and believes she hears an ocean of oil underneath the ground.
Sarah’s father takes her into the bustling white village full of oilmen, prospectors, con men, and other people. One storefront oil company throws her out for being black. Another one, however, Petroleum Oil, says they’ll look at her land. When they come out to talk to her, little Sarah, at 11-years-old, is much smarter than anyone expects. She drives a hard bargain.
Back in town, Sarah visits the local café and is told to leave because they don’t allow black people. However, Bert, an independent oilman, prospector and entrepreneur played brilliantly by Zackary Levi, buys her a lemonade. The white waitress is furious.
The oil company negotiates a six-month lease with Sarah and sets up expensive equipment. However, they leave after three months, telling Sarah there’s nothing there. Meanwhile, three henchmen from the oil company invade Sarah’s ramshackle little home looking for her deed and shoot her dog. Her dog disappears, like most dogs, maybe going off to die.
Searching for her dog, Sarah comes across an encampment of oil crewmen waiting to get hired. She sees Bert again and talks him into accompanying her to drill for the oil and split the profits 50/50. Bert has a Hispanic partner named Mace. Quickly, Bert and Mace think there’s lots of oil on Sarah’s property.
When they go into town to test some of the watery mud at the bottom of their drill, the man at assay testing office clearly is cheating them. So, Bert waits until the man goes to the office of Petroleum Oil. Bert gets the sample back and realizes the man is working for Petroleum Oil.
So, Bert takes Sarah to the assay office in the local African American village, where a very smart black man tests the mud and says it’s the purest oil you can imagine. Meanwhile, a female lawyer form back East, named Barnard, accompanied by a member of the NAACP, tells Sarah that two of the teenage girls she went to school with have been shot.
The jeopardy in SARAH’S OIL becomes intense. The bad guys pressure Bert to sell out. However, Sarah keeps her faith in God, which leads to a classic showdown with the bad guys.
SARAH’S OIL is extremely well directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh of THE YOUNG MESSIAH and THE STONING OF SORAYA M. Zachary Levi of SHAZAM, TANGLED, AMERICAN UNDERDOG, and TV’S CHUCK gives his best performance. Everyone else in the movie is also great, including Naya Desin-Johnson as Sarah and Sonequa Martin-Green of TV’s STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. This means, of course, that the director has done a great job. SARAH’S OIL is also extremely well written, with intense jeopardy that’s relieved by wonderful humor and spiritual drama. The ending of the movie is terrific.
SARAH’S OIL has an inspiring, uplifting Cristian, moral worldview. It has Christian songs and prayer, which are totally integrated into the story and seem natural to the characters. Eventually, Sarah confronts Bert and tells him he must decide if he wants to lose his soul and keep the money or save his soul. MOVIEGUIDE® strongly applauds SARAH’S OIL. However, there’s a smattering of foul language and some scary violence. So, we advise caution for younger children.
The last song is wonderful. The first verse goes:
I know I’m in my purpose
and God did it on purpose
I’ve seen enough to know it’s worth it
Every step it takes
