The River

As Pare Lorentz did for the Southern Plains about the Dust Bowl in a previous documentary, here is focuses on the Mississippi River. Virgil Thomson composed music to help enhance the documentary. During the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs helped to understand and educate others throughout the country about causes such as saving the Mississippi River and the Southern Plains in the Dust Bowl years. Pare Lorentz does a decent job in a time when documentaries were still new as with films in general. The documentary is short enough but long enough to explain the Mississippi River. It would have been nicer to have heard from people along the Mississippi River who are probably generations of families have lived to earn a living. The documentary is fine for historic review and the music is ingenious in understanding the river's significance. The Mississippi River stretches from Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana and has been an important part of American history.

This is less interesting than the same film-maker's THE PLOW THAT BROKE THE PLAINS (1936); indeed, I doubt even modern-day locals (that is to say, people inhabiting the various American cities through which the Mississippi river runs) would be hard-pressed to find at least the initial stages of the half-hour documentary engaging! However, it eventually takes the same cautionary stance at the heart of the earlier work – since the systematic eradication of forests has left the surrounding valleys and towns unprotected from periodic floods (resulting in mass migration and, by extension, impoverished living) – and the Government's quick thinking to resolve the issue by erecting electrically-powered dams throughout this vast area.

I first saw this film 20 years ago in forestry school. This film vividly shows the effect of poor agricultural practices and poor timber harvesting in the water cycle. It has footage of the devastating flood on 1927 along the Mississippi River. I learned that the film had been used for years by foresters from the Yazoo-Little Tallahatchie Flood Prevention Project and other U.S. Forest Service foresters to educate the public on the value of planting trees to prevent soil erosion and help heal the land from years of crop production on marginal lands. I think every student of environmental history and management should view this film at some time in their career. It is available from a couple of places, but I found a video from Kino which has not only The River, but the companion piece, The Plow that broke the plains, and two other short documentaries. The River and The Plow that broke the plains were part of FDR's New Deal propaganda (in a positive sense) which promoted conservation using outstanding photography, outstanding scripts, and emotionally compelling scoring.

This is a beautiful piece of documentary work with an artistry and sensitivity that highlights the highs and lows of life with the Mississippi river. The narration and repetition of significant words is simply hypnotic, driving home the points of devastation and the moments of industrial and agricultural joys.

I've been fortunate enough to see this documentary through my work, but I would agree with the user commentary from 'Zetes' that this is an absolute must see for documentary enthusiasts. I am mostly enthused with the creativity of this piece - so often people assume documentaries are unobstructed pieces of fact that have no bearing on the creative film side. This piece is propaganda, yes, but it has a real emotional pull that doesn't feel too contrived. And the cinematography is amazing.

The River is a very wonderful documentary, covering the importance of the Mississippi River to the United States. It's Depression-era propaganda, yes, but it's so beautifully filmed, edited, and written, as well as read. The narration is absolutely poetic. This is a must-see if for all documentary enthusiasts. 9/10.