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Languid, raw, and majestic, Robert J. Flaherty's final documentary is something to behold. Shot in Cajun country in 1948, Louisiana Story is a tale of modernity intruding on an isolated river habitat for crocodiles, catfish, raccoons, and trappers. Within the setting's primitive and dangerous beauty we meet a shy young hero (played by a non-professional actor; a local river rat named Joseph Boudreaux), who spends lonely days steering his raft and padding along banks with feline authority. Into this rustic paradise comes a noisy oil derrick, pounding pipe through the riverbed toward subterranean pools of black goo. Funded by Standard Oil, Flaherty was accused of selling out and fabricating a pro-development "true story" about the boy's friendship with wildcat oilmen. But such complaints overshoot the poetic luster of Flaherty's nature visions: the mysterious interplay of moonlight, reflective waters, black currents, and swaying reeds. Superficially fact or fiction, this film is its own gorgeous truth. --Tom Keogh
Description
Nominated for an Oscar® and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for its musical score, Robert J. Flaherty's last masterpiece is a visually stunning, lyrical tribute to a land and its people. Flaherty's poetic vision of nature and the human spirit fills every frame of this amazing film. Through the eyes of a young Cajun boy living on the Bayou, Flaherty tells a story of disruption and change when an oil rig brings industry into his pristine world. Listed on the National Film Registry as a national treasure, Louisiana Story has finally been restored to its original glory.
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Customer Reviews:
Fascinating!.......2007-08-15
This film realistically depicts so many lost pieces of history in a bittersweet story. Filmed in the late 1940's, and using local people as actors, it recalls the beginning of the oil industry, Louisiana's lost natural beauty and a lost way of life. It knits the past and present Louisiana together beautifully. There's also great footage discussing the making of the film. Anyone who loves Louisiana will love this documentary!
Another Robert Flaherty work of art.......2006-03-27
The Bayou, Louisiana.
This documentary is shot with a beautiful black & white photography. The music perfectly matches the tempo and feeling of the story. Lasts only 75 minutes but captures our emotion and interest right from the first scene.
The box of the dvd misleads. It made me expect some kind of social reportage on the impact of oil industry in the pristine bayou wildlife. On the contrary (but that's for you to check).
The story is basically the life of a young and enchanting kid in the Bayou. His daily occupations, his relation with surrounding nature (its enchants and perils). It provokes an emotion similar to the reading of Huckelberry's adventures.
Again, as in all of Mr. Flaherty's documentaries, it's the sheer beauty of the photography and the wonderful capture of the expression of people's faces, real people, that make the viewing a humanly enriching experience.
I have to recommend, also of Mr. Flaherty, "The Man of Aran" and "Nanook of the North".
Louisiana Story.......2005-08-12
Flaherty's brilliant, stark camera exposes civilization encroaching on nature, and the result is visual poetry. A rich meditation on how these opposing forces must interact, it makes the viewer think again about the long-term price to be paid. Ironically, Standard Oil sponsored the film!
And now you see how our state was suckered into the oil biz.......2005-07-12
I came upon this film while browsing my university library. My curiosity was picqued, since my home state is rarely discussed beyond such topics as drinking (Mardi Gras) and eating (Cajun food).
This film reminds me of a line from an explanatory plaque in Jean Lafitte National Park. Looking out over a marsh (through which runs a large gas pipeline), the panel details all the restoration efforts sponsored by ExxonMobil, Shell-Texaco, et al., all of whom have refineries in or around the wetlands. If they're cleaning anything, it's their own mess. And what methods are they using? "Bio-restorative detonations," I believe, was the term used. Are those "life-giving bombs"?
Back to the film, funded as propaganda by Standard Oil Co. when local sentiment was turning against the company. I'll pass over how many times the innocently befuddled Cajuns smile broadly at the blessed Oil Rig plopped in their marsh, and the way the young boy is given the Disney-nature-film treatment, as amusingly naive as Lobo the Wolf or Henry the Mountain Burro. No, just watch this film and catch a glimpse of the prosperity once promised to our humble state. And then visit the beautiful scenery of Norco, LA, in the middle of the famed Cancer Alley.
Sorry, This One's Over-rated.......2005-01-23
I have been making it a point to try and see all of the "great" movies. I've got a long ways to go but I've seen a lot already. Most of the movies that make the various "All Time Best" list have a noticeable quality to them. Some may be a bit heavy on the technique and light on the plot but one doesn't come away from them wondering why they have such a great reputation. However, I purchased "Louisiana Story" with the idea that I might not otherwise get to see it and I am disappointed. The photography and scenery is good but not THAT good. The acting is amateurish which isn't too bad considering that the actors ARE amateurs but has anyone seen what Visconti did with amateurs in "La Terra Trema"? The story isn't even interesting. An oil rig comes to the back waters of Louisiana. OK. I guess I did enjoy some of the scenes of the roustabouts feeding pipe into the hole. The boy who "stars" in the movie seemed to have the life in the bayou. I keep searching but all I can find myself doing is making excuses as to why I SHOULD have enjoyed this movie.If I had it to do over again, I'd have bought "Man of Aran".
DVD:
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DVD
DVD
General
| Documentary
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
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