Film Reflection #3--My Louisiana Love

My Louisiana Love is a documentary-style film that focuses on members of the Houma Nation living in Louisiana, specifically Monique Verdin who was born in Louisiana and spent time living in Pensacola, FL before returning to Louisiana and living with her grandmother and uncle. At the beginning of the film, Monique speaks about her grandmother’s rituals that stem from those of the Houma Nation, a federally unrecognized Native American tribe indigenous to Louisiana. The film later moves to talking about how their land was impacted by Hurricane Katrina and later the BP Oil Spill, emphasizing that these disasters were not entirely natural, but were also impacted by human forces. Throughout the film, themes of climate injustice are very prevalent.

The film followed similar narratives to those we have discussed at length in our course and featured images of Louisiana in a grim state of being. As always, it is especially important for people like Tulane students, who are often only temporary inhabitants of Louisiana to recognize and try to do something about the immense climate issues we are facing.

I think the film had a good message, but it was a little monotonous to watch and I could imagine that it would not go over very well with audiences less interested in climate justice, who are an especially important audience to target and engage.