- Actors: Joseph Boudreaux, Lionel Le Blanc, E. Bienvenu, Frank Hardy, C.P. Guedry
- Directors: Robert J. Flaherty
- Writers: Robert J. Flaherty, Frances H. Flaherty
- Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
- Language: English
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Paradox
- Release Date: Jun 21 2004
- Run Time: 78 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00008UALJ
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #39,259 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
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
Video Details
DVD Features: Letters Home, A Reading of Cinematographer Richard Leacock's letters with images from the production
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and lyrical,
By A Customer
This review is from: Louisiana Story (DVD)
This film is visually stunning. The images are quite simply breathtaking - the black and white photography is crisp, clean, and luminous. The film seems to have been lit from within. Our first view of the Cajun boy in his pirogue is touching and jaw-droppingly beautiful. The opening sequence has got to be one of the loveliest things ever filmed, and for that reason alone it's worth a look. The nature scenes are the most evocative, but I found the images of the men working on the oil derrick beautiful and strangely sublime as well. The film is also a brief snapshot of what life in south Louisiana was like at that time - unspoiled and rustic and filled with a raw sort of beauty. The "actors" used in this film are achingly real. (And thus they are not always very good at what they are doing, especially the men on board the derrick - who are clearly more Texas than Louisiana.) I particularly enjoyed the boy's father and the scenes in which Cajun French is spoken; my mother is Cajun and let me tell you - this is the real thing. But the boy himself turns in the best performance - at times he is innocent and filled with awe, at other times he is full of mischief and "trop canaille" (to use his papa's words). The story itself isn't really a story in the traditional sense, though there is enough of a narrative thread there to keep you entertained if you're in a quiet, patient mood. The scene where the boy tries to trap a gator is actually quite exciting, underscored as it is by the original score (which is excellent throughout). In short, this film is perfect for anyone who truly understands and appreciates south Louisiana and its culture and is looking for something quiet and unique.
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the Director of Nanook of the North,
By ixta_coyotl (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Louisiana Story (DVD)
Born on the Bayou! This is a great documentary-stle film from Robert Flaherty, who brought us Nanook of the North, Tabu (with Murnau), and Man of Aran, among others. Here he takes us back to a simple primitive lifestyle in the American periphery which was soon to disappear with modernity during post-war American development. You can see that Flaherty never became too fond of talkie cinema; even as late as 1948, his film is still nearly voiceless. But ohh what marvelous images are these! Flaherty's love of nature virtually gushes out into each scene; the B&W cinematography is elegent and the image quality is delightfully crisp on the Criterion DVD. See alligators, ra"coons", and the flow of the river, all in their natural splendour. And his filming of the machines is equally wonderful: he captures all their awful brilliance in a way that lets us feel what they must have inspired in the eyes of a young Acadian boy. Of the extras, I particularly liked the exerpts from a Flaherty wartime Department of Agriculture film. It looked like a documentary on the Grapes of Wrath. Wonderful.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews) 31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and lyrical,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Louisiana Story (DVD)
This film is visually stunning. The images are quite simply breathtaking - the black and white photography is crisp, clean, and luminous. The film seems to have been lit from within. Our first view of the Cajun boy in his pirogue is touching and jaw-droppingly beautiful. The opening sequence has got to be one of the loveliest things ever filmed, and for that reason alone it's worth a look. The nature scenes are the most evocative, but I found the images of the men working on the oil derrick beautiful and strangely sublime as well. The film is also a brief snapshot of what life in south Louisiana was like at that time - unspoiled and rustic and filled with a raw sort of beauty. The "actors" used in this film are achingly real. (And thus they are not always very good at what they are doing, especially the men on board the derrick - who are clearly more Texas than Louisiana.) I particularly enjoyed the boy's father and the scenes in which Cajun French is spoken; my mother is Cajun and let me tell you - this is the real thing. But the boy himself turns in the best performance - at times he is innocent and filled with awe, at other times he is full of mischief and "trop canaille" (to use his papa's words). The story itself isn't really a story in the traditional sense, though there is enough of a narrative thread there to keep you entertained if you're in a quiet, patient mood. The scene where the boy tries to trap a gator is actually quite exciting, underscored as it is by the original score (which is excellent throughout). In short, this film is perfect for anyone who truly understands and appreciates south Louisiana and its culture and is looking for something quiet and unique. 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Robert Flaherty work of art,
By Quilmiense - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Louisiana Story (DVD)
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". 25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Louisiana Story by a Louisianne,
By dezauche@earthlink.net - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Louisiana Story (VHS Tape)
This is a random film about life in rural Louisiana during the invasion of the "big oil" boom after World War II. The director focuses on how simple and unchanged life in the swamp state was until the first oil derrick appears, and then the old life rapidly merges into the modern life of motor boats, electricity, and common prosperity. The quiet, solemn swamp is transformed into a noisy, bustling water highway. Robert Flaherty films local citizens in their natural habitat, speaking unrehearsed lines with natural French accents. This is the appeal of the film- all natural people, all natural settings, and improptu speech and action. For film study in black and white, and for the sheer simplicity of life before industrialization, this is the perfect choice. You will be left with an impression of innocence, of a time that is encapsulated in this film.
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