“I worked too hard. And too long. I ain’t goin’ down without a fight.”

It may a be a line from writer and director Scott Teems’ film, “That Evening Sun,” but it rings true for many Americans who, like the main character Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook), have been faced with losing their homes, entire livelihoods and essentially their identities.

Meecham, an aging Tennessee farmer, is placed in a nursing home after slipping on his front porch and breaking a hip. Out in the vast, almost vacant country side, with no aid, the incident almost took his life after he laid their immobile for days braving tough weather conditions without food and water.

His son, a high-priced lawyer, felt the nursing home would be his best bet for survival, but for Meecham his farm was his source of existence. In an attempt to reconnect with his identity, he bails on the nursing home and hitches a ride to his farm, only to find that a new family (the Choat’s) — actually his enemy — has leased the farm with an option to buy. However determined, the Choat’s can not afford to make the payments, the breadwinner, Lonzo, is a struggling alcoholic who has been unable to work and survives on disability checks. A struggle for power and ownership leads to a battle for the property until they have ultimately reached their breaking point.

“They have to reach the point of near destruction before they are awakened by the truth,” said Teems. “Their life has to be flashed before their eyes, almost literally, before they are able to see the truth and I think that’s what happens in this film. They do have moments of clarity but it’s only after they have crossed the final ledge in terms of their commitment to winning this war. [But] when you make something a material thing like this farm and it becomes more important than another human being, there is never going to be a winner in that scenario. It becomes more valuable than the people around them and destruction is all that can come from a situation like that.”

Based on the short story, “I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down,” by William Gay, Teems’ interpretation follows it closely, at least in terms of the narrative line or plot, he said, “but what I was able to do is come in, enrich and expand upon the relationships, which are often missing from the [short] story or are only hinted at.”

In the first few years of development — the screenplay being drafted in the late summer of 2005 — Gay was a helping hand. Though he did not force his vision or direct Teems on how things should play out, he often gave his feedback. And it was much appreciated by Teems who knows there is “a delicate dance that you play with an author.”

At times they don’t want to be involved, other times they want too much creative control, he said, “but with William it was great because from the very beginning he understood the transaction and understood that once you take money for your work, you give up a lot of creative control...He knew that it would have to be changed a little bit to become a film and it had to be extended and grown. He also respected me as a writer and allowed me the room to create and gave me the freedom to come to him without fear.”

Artistic license then no longer became an issue, rather Teems had many doors closed and financing was not readily available. It was not until last spring that he was able to get the money needed to fund the project. Production companies did not find the film to be a commercially viable endeavor because its lead actor and character was an elderly man.

Luckily, because the film has since won seven film festival awards, including one in Tennessee where the film was shot in 22 days. More importantly, Holbrook, who plays Meecham, pulled off a stunning performance.

Teems owed it not only to Holbrook’s longevity in the film business; hence is expertise, but also to him being filmed in his natural state.

Holbrook was told, “‘we’re going to put you in these wife-beater T-shirts, we are going to show all of your skin and get close to your face and show all of your wrinkles.,’” said Teems. “To me, all that stuff is beautiful and that’s life and that’s history. It creates layers unto the character and creates a lot of depth.”

But just before audiences can dig deeper, they are left with an abrupt ending that leaves them pondering where their journey goes from that point. “They’re purposely not answered in this movie,” said Teems. “I want the audience to walk away and be able to wrestle with that and make their own conclusions as to what happened.”