( ENSPIRE Entertainment ) A Forgotten Legacy of Faith, Inheritance, and Courage Rises From The Soil To Remind The World That True Worth Is Never Measured In Wealth
ENSPIRE Contributor: Kedrin Herron
Photo Credit: Shane Brown/Amazon MGM Studios
In a world that measures value by what can be owned, Sarah’s Oil rises as a cinematic reminder that true inheritance lives in faith, not fortune. Inspired by Tonya Bolden’s book Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America and brought to life by Amazon MGM Studios presenting a Wonder Project Production and Kingdom Story Company, the film reintroduces us to one of America’s forgotten heroines — an eleven-year-old Black girl from Oklahoma Indian Territory who turned belief into legacy.
Born into a time when opportunity for Black families was rationed and racial greed ruled the land, Sarah Rector received 160 acres through the Dawes Allotment Act — land deemed worthless by those who assigned it. Her family struggled to pay the $30 annual tax on property others considered barren, but Sarah refused to see desolation where God had planted possibility. When oil was eventually struck, it changed not only her life but the narrative of what was possible for generations to come.
Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and co-written with Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, Sarah’s Oil is a story about faith that does not flinch. It explores how one girl’s conviction, grounded in divine assurance, confronted both the greed of others and the doubts of those closest to her. As white opportunists circled the Rectors’ land, threatening to strip them of what they had barely begun to own, Sarah’s belief stood firm — a voice of courage guiding even the grown men and women around her.
Actor Kenric Green, who plays Joseph Rector, Sarah’s father, saw the role as more than a performance. It became a mirror of his own faith and fatherhood. “You’re instilling this faith into your child that you want them to take with them,” Green reflects. “But then, as Joe, my practical mind says we need to cut it off — and she’s [Sarah] like, no, I want to keep going. So how do I stop my child from walking in faith when it’s the faith I helped instill in her?” That question lies at the heart of Sarah’s Oil: what happens when a parent’s lessons are reflected back to them through the unwavering belief of their child.
The Rectors’ journey exposes how quickly the world assigns worth to what can be bought and sold — and how conviction resists that measurement. Greed becomes the film’s shadow: white oilmen determined to manipulate, deceive, and steal from a Black family they never considered equal. Yet Joseph Rector’s transformation through it all reveals a deeper truth. As Green says, “You see the Rectors aren’t strangers to the ugliness of the world around them. But now that greed’s at another level, they’ve got something people want to take. Joe reaches a point where he says to Rose, ‘It’s them or us.’ That really speaks to worth — that this is worth dying for.”
The performance of Naya Desir-Johnson, who portrays Sarah, shines with wisdom beyond her years. Her quiet confidence becomes the moral center of the film, leading both the audience and her on-screen parents to a renewed understanding of faith. “When I first read the script,” Naya recalls, “I was like, ‘Wow, this is a really compelling story.’ When she believes in something, she is determined to do it. And she focuses on that one thing, and she does whatever she can to accomplish it.” Her words echo Sarah’s real-life persistence, capturing the spirit of a child who refused to accept “no” as the end of her story.
For Green, that spirit carries an even broader message. “When we stick with God through the trials and ultimately see that triumph — whatever it might mean — there’s fulfillment in walking out His will,” he says. “It doesn’t always mean wealth, but it always means purpose.” His portrayal of Joseph gives audiences a father’s vulnerability, a man torn between protecting his family and following the very faith that may lead them into danger.
While the performances drive the film’s emotion, it is the authenticity of the real-life Rector descendants that grounds its soul. Watching the movie, Deborah Brown, Sarah’s niece, described the experience as both powerful and personal: “I sat and I smiled. I cried. There’s one part where Rose comes out about the land—‘the only thing they want is the land.’ It was like, oh my God, that’s so Mama Rose. It just brought back that childhood memory of the family.” Her sister Donna Brown-Thompkins added, “I love the part where they portrayed young Sarah as being just kind of wise. They wanted to give her pennies on the dollar. She said, ‘Oh, no.’ No, how about so much percentage, you know?”
Those recollections, full of laughter and tears, reveal how Sarah’s Oil doesn’t just tell a story — it resurrects a lineage. The film becomes both testimony and tribute, giving back the voice that history once tried to silence. For the Rector family, it’s a reclaiming of dignity; for audiences, it’s a reminder that faith, when tested, becomes the truest form of wealth.
As the credits roll, what lingers is not the oil or the fortune, but the legacy of a family who trusted God when logic said not to. Green believes Joseph Rector would have a message for today’s fathers, especially those raising visionary daughters: “Know who God made your children to be. Help foster and shepherd that — don’t try to control who they become. Help nurture who they already are.” His words reach beyond the screen, calling families to recognize the sacred potential already present within their homes.
This cinematic experience is not just a period film; it’s a prophetic one. It asks what it means to hold on to what’s holy in a world obsessed with possession, and to protect what God has placed in your hands even when others call it worthless. Sarah’s story is a parable of belief — that when the world says no, faith digs deeper, and beneath the surface of every barren place, there may be something waiting to be discovered.
In this way, Sarah’s Oil becomes more than a historical retelling. It becomes a reflection of how ordinary faith can create extraordinary legacy. It reminds every little Black girl, every weary believer, and every parent searching for purpose that sometimes the richest oil flows not from the ground, but from the heart.
Sarah’s Oil opens in theaters November 7th, with celebrity couple Russell Wilson and Ciara as two of six executive producers and starring Zachary Levi, Naya Desir-Johnson, Sonequa Martin-Green, Garret Dillahunt, Mel Rodriguez, Kenric Green, and Bridget Regan.
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