The award-winning drama, directed by Dee Rees, explores racial segregation and economic struggles in the Mississippi Delta after World War II.

It follows two families — the McAllans, who are white, and the Jacksons, who are Black — connected by the land they both farm.

As they live through the harsh racial norms of the time, returning war veterans Jamie McAllan and Ronsel Jackson strike up a bond that shakes up both families in ways nobody saw coming.

“A sober, clear-eyed, and haunting work of art,” Alissa Wilkinson writes for Vox.

“Couldn’t be more timely,” Peter Travers writes in Rolling Stone.

“[A] sobering reminder [that, even today,] there’s still much work to be done [to achieve racial justice and equity],” writes United Press International’s Fred Topel.