3-26-26
Colin Connolly
Prof. Rose
Critical Response Essay

    Sinners was located in Clarksville, Mississippi. The movie is based around 2 brothers, Stack and Smoke and their one cousin, Sammy. It takes place in the 1930s during the Jim Crow Era, so its theme is based around racism. Stack and Smoke come back to Mississippi from Chicago at the beginning of the movie and use the money that they stole in Chicago to build a juke joint out of an old saw mill. They go around town getting supplies, drinks, and get people to go to their juke joint. The main focus of this juke joint was obviously the music, which made Sammy such a big part of it since he was the one playing the music. His music ends up becoming an extreme danger to him. The actions in this film continue to show that not all sins are equal. The film also shows us how freedom may never be truly granted.

Even though the film keeps moving and never really addresses it, every sin that is committed throughout the movie has its own consequences. An article that I read said, “Everyone is guilty of at least a little heathenry in Sinners, but there are few people with reputations as tarnished as twins Elijah / “Smoke” and Elias / “Stack “”(Daniels 2025). This quote explains that every person that you see in the movie has sinned. But Smoke and Stack’s actions really stand out. For example, Smoke and Stack sin the whole movie, killing, stealing, and using extreme violence. At the time, you don’t think anything of these crimes, there are no police to arrest them, and no one to give them any sort of discipline because everyone is scared of them. They build a good thing, the juke joint, a place of freedom for black citizens who aren’t used to having any freedom. The juke joint isn’t the problem, it is how it was built. They used the stolen money from Chicago to buy the Juke Joint. This raises the question of if the juke joint is even really good and if anything good can really come from something that comes from criminal action or that is morally wrong. As the movie goes on, you start to see all of their past actions unfold in front of their eyes, leading to eventual death. Meanwhile, someone like Sammy, is also a sinner. His father at the beginning of the movie labels blues music the devil’s music, which is what Sammy sings. Sammy performs at the Juke Joint and blows off his father and what he says. Again, these actions and sins continue to hurt the sinners, as Remmick, the main vampire, comes to the juke joint only for Sammy. He even says that he will leave everyone alone if they just give him Sammy. As I started to think more about the movie, and the level of sins that were committed, I wondered why Sammy was considered a sinner by his father and peers. I get that at the time music was a sin and looked down upon, but why should expressing yourself and showcasing your talents ever be a sin? That is why Sammy never got killed and was protected for many years later. Sammy did not deserve to be punished for his sins, meanwhile the twins did. Do I think they deserved to die? No, but that is the way things went back then, and that was the only way that people were punished or disciplined. So Stack, Smoke, and Sammy really showcase the level of the sins committed, and how everyone sins, but not everyone sins to the same level, and sins should be handled differently for the extent of the sin.

    Smoke and Stack at the beginning of the film come back from Chicago for multiple reasons. One, they would get killed because of the crimes they committed and who they did it on, and also they didn’t have enough freedom. They come back to Mississippi looking to run their own lives and live by their own rules, but that obviously never happens. I was talking to my friend about the movie the other day and he pointed out something to me that really made me appreciate the writing of the film, but also made me realize the bigger picture. At the beginning of the movie, they bought the Saw Mill from a Klan member and never looked back. At the end of the movie, he brought the rest of the Klan with him with a bunch of guns to kill everyone. My friend pointed out that no matter what, if everyone was dead from the vampires, or no vampires even ever existed, they all would have died anyway. The Klan members would have ended up killing them all regardless. This made me realize that all they wanted was to be free and safe from these people, but they were never going to be free anyway. Another way this was shown was how the only thing that made Sammy feel free and like himself was music. Remmick was attracted to Sammy because of his voice and music. This made me realize that even what you love and what you do can be exploited, and taken away from you. From the beginning of the movie Sammy’s father warns him about not going and not sinning. “Sammie’s father disapproves of his performing for “drunkards” and warns, “You keep dealing with the Devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”(Brody 2025). This quote explains how we knew from the beginning Sammy was going to face struggles and even his father knew that freedom was never really given.



This movie could connect to my major, childhood education in many ways. When working with younger children, or even a kid of any age, it is important to not do what Sammy’s father, and what some of the other people in the movie did to Sammy, which is make him not play music. It is important to help a kid with something that they are passionate about, not tear them down for it. Imagine Sammy wasn’t like that and let his father and other people get to his head. He wouldn’t have been a huge star at the end of the movie like he was. Sammy never gave up on himself, and people like Smoke and Stack gave him a chance, and that is what is about. I would wish to be like Stack and Smoke in the sense of believing in someone younger and letting him do what he loves. Another way it connects is through inequality. Obviously it won’t be as bad, but there will always be inequalities everywhere, even schools. As a teacher, it would be important for me to steer clear from any stereotypes, and try and point out any inequalities in the school and address them head on. 

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