Read our review of MOSSVILLE: WHEN GREAT TREES FALL
"Mossville’s apocalyptic aesthetic and honest exposé styling make it a must-see documentary. Highly Recommended."
If you follow the film festival circuit or have an interest in ecology, you might already have heard about this award-winning documentary. Mossville, Louisiana is a historic community: Founded by freedmen after the Civil War, the small black community saw massive success for decades. However, industrialization of the surrounding area turned the once-thriving community into a graveyard.?
Through the 90s and 00s, an unimaginable number of Mossville residents were falling ill and dying of cancer and prolonged illness from dioxin exposure. While several families who’ve accepted the buyout offered by the chemical company are frequent subjects of the film, Stacy Ryan is the one who sees the most screentime. Despite losing his parents to cancer caused by chemical runoff, Stacy is unwilling to leave his ancestral home for a mere $2,000.?
Welcome to Mossvile: Population 1. While the trope of stubborn holdouts against industrial expansion are a mainstay in popular media, it’s rare the reality of such situations are actually explored. Mossville dives into the intersection of industrialism and racism, looking at the political, environmental, historical, and personal costs of the expansion of the petrochemical industry. Stacy makes an outstanding case study. The reasons behind his reluctance are based on pride in his history and his family, not comic stubbornness or greed. He doesn’t want to see what should be a national heritage site paved over.?
While others are more willing to take the low payouts to leave the zone of contamination, Stacy sees the expansion of the chemical plants as an invasion. The owners of the largest chemical production facility in South Africa are buying up the land that once was Mossville, growing their factory to build “America’s SASOL” and bringing the legacy of Apartheid with them. Those interested in ecology and environmental racism will want to see this documentary, but it may also hold some draw for those who enjoy history and expositional documentaries as well. Mossville’s apocalyptic aesthetic and honest exposé styling make it a must-see documentary.?
Highly Recommended. -J. Zimmerman for The Sound View.?
Documentary / Bayview Entertainment / $24.95 / 672975284107 / Release date: 9/8/20/?Buy the DVD