Louisiana Story : The Reverse Angle | 2008

Sixty years after the release of the controversial movie "Louisiana Story", Louisiana Public Broadcasting has created a new documentary "Louisiana Story: The Reverse Angle" that explores the legacy of Robert Flaherty's film. Acclaimed as "the father of documentary filmmaking" for his work on "Nanook of the North", Flaherty's "Louisiana Story" was his final film. It was film's first look at one of the most distinctive American subcultures, the Acadians (Cajuns) of Louisiana, as well as an artistic triumph. The importance of this documentary was immediately appreciated in its day. Along with an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, "Louisiana Story" won the Venice Film Festival's International Prize for its "lyrical beauty," and a 1949 Pulitzer Prize for music. In 1994, "Louisiana Story" was declared "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress, and it was among the first films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. This program brings together the surviving key participants of the original 1940's movie and allows them to comment on this controversial film, including Richard Leacock, legendary cinematographer and associate producer of "Louisiana Story", and J.C. Boudreaux, once the emblematic Cajun boy who personified Flaherty's optimistic vision. Reverse Angle features diverse commentary from native folklorists, artists, filmmakers, and historians who have both studied and shared in the legacy of Louisiana Story.

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This documentary from March 5, 2008, explores the legacy of the 1948 film “Louisiana Story” directed by Robert Flaherty and funded by the Standard Oil Company. The film follows the life of a young Cajun boy, played by J.C. Boudreaux, in the bayous of south Louisiana and the implications of his father’s decision to allow an oil company to drill near their home. This documentary touches on: the career of Robert Flaherty, including his work on “Nanook of the North” and his distinction as the “father of documentary filmmaking”; the film’s cast and crew; the 14-month filming process in Abbeville, Louisiana; the film’s portrayal of Cajun culture; the impact of the oil industry on the Americanization of the Cajuns; and star J.C. Boudreaux’s life after the film. It includes interviews with: Rob Rombout, a filmmaker and professor at the Sint-Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design; Richard Leacock, the associate producer and cinematographer on “Louisiana Story”; Jay Ruby, a visual anthropologist and professor emeritus at Temple University; Clarence Faulk, a production assistant on “Louisiana Story”; Dr. Barry Ancelet, a folklorist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL); J.C. Boudreaux, the star of “Louisiana Story”; Greg Guirard, a photographer, writer, and Louisiana fisherman; and John Laudun, a folklorist at ULL.

Narrator: Michael Doucet