Another Angle On: NATCHEZ

Natchez, Mississippi has a wealth of history, and a history of wealth – perhaps the only two facts its residents can agree on. Throughout much of the 19th century Natchez was one of the richest areas in the US thanks to the cotton boom – and the enslaved labor that kept its capitalism wheel churning. Today the small town is wholly dependent on tourism, especially its century-old tradition of “Pilgrimage” – when twice a year an onslaught of overwhelmingly white visitors descend upon the antique-packed antebellum mansions to gaze at pretty objects; and to hear the houses’s history, delivered by docents in full Scarlett O’Hara drag. It’s a romanticized account that includes benevolent white plantation owners like “Dr. Duncan” who “was good to his people.” At least according to one hoop-skirted guide featured in Suzannah Herbert’s captivating cinematic chronicle Natchez, a patient and unobtrusively-lensed look at a complicated community through the myriad characters that call the place home.

To read the rest of my review visit Hammer to Nail.