Film Reflection 3

My Louisiana Love is one of the my favorite documentaries that we have watched in class. In true home video fashion, the unfortunate events that climate change and disasters has caused on Monique Verdin, her family, and her community was gracefully depicted. Though I am very critical of climate change documentaries as they rarely show solutions and always tell us the world is ending, this one hit a little different. Quotes that basically said Louisiana is losing land every day are coupled with a documentary of people actually losing their land. Not only does the documentary tell us about the physical hardships people in this area go through it showed us the mental strain that it takes on people as well.

Monique's father was a struggling alcoholic who was displaced during Katrina and eventually succumbed to his battle with alcoholism. I believe her words were that he stopped fighting. When everything in life is a struggle and fight to keep what is rightfully yours it makes sense that someone is tired and on the brink of giving up. Monique's resilience even though everyone around her was struggling with depression is admirable. She even lost a close friend who was fighting the battle with her to depression. Her words were "I didn't know how depressed he was".

Like I said this documentary hit different. After their land had been soiled for the _th time, they showed the oil companies beginning to rebuild their plants. They even hired people in the community to clean up the mess that THEY made. Not only this but the oil companies also held events where they addressed the community saying, "we are not going anywhere". I wanted to SCREAM. Some folks just don't get the hint or more accurately could give a rats ass about anything that isn't making them money.

Overall I thought the documentary was well done and an exceptional account of the real life effects that people are going through everyday due to the actions of elite companies destroying their land.