Although I missed the first part of Sugar Cane Alley, I really felt moved by the story. A young native of 1930s Martinique, Jose strives to break out of the sugar cane field cycle. Starting with colonial slavery, Africans were shipped to the French Carribean to work in the sugar cane fields from sun-up to sun-down. Even several decades after slavery's abolishment, the black people of Martinique earned so little for their work that it could be compared to slavery. Ma Tine knew that Jose had potential beyond this manual labor and promised herself she would help him find a better life. The only way to this better life was through education.
It was up to Jose, however, to accomplish his dream of success. He was in the top of his class at school, and he was able to apply for admission and scholarship into a Fort-de-France high school. He earned a partial scholarship, and then through Ma Tine's hard work and his academic excellence, he was granted a full scholarship and would be able to attend school for free.
Jose was a dreamer, and Ma Tine encouraged his hard work in school. But Jose went through many hardships, and so the movie is not only one of inspiration but also one of suffering. Jose was only one out of many children in the slum-like village of Sugar Cane Alley to work his way to high school. The rest of his friends became bound to the fields as they grew older. Jose lost his parents, his mentor, Medouze, and his loving and determined grandmother Ma Tine. He really had no one to share his success with at the end. It has a melancholic overtone, and it really is bittersweet.
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