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Movies / On DVD / Desert Bayou
Desert Bayou

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Desert Bayou (2007)

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Reviews Counted:23

Fresh:18

Rotten:5

Average Rating:6.5/10

Consensus: Although the presentation is sometimes clumsy, the compelling interviews and story make Desert Bayou always informative and enthralling.

Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Synopsis: After the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of black evacuees were unwittingly transported to Utah, a state where only one percent of its residents were black in 2005. Featuring interviews... After the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of black evacuees were unwittingly transported to Utah, a state where only one percent of its residents were black in 2005. Featuring interviews with Master P, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and Dr. Beverly Wright, DESERT BAYOU chronicles the experiences of those who escaped Katrina and were sent to Utah. [More]

Starring: Shmuley Boteach, Master P, Beverly Wright

Starring: Shmuley Boteach, Master P, Beverly Wright

Director: Alex LeMay

Director: Alex LeMay
Screenwriter: Thomas G. Lemmer
Story: Michael Reynolds
Producer: Alex LeMay, Jimmy Finkl, Mike Russell, Marybeth Mazzone
Composer: Geno Lenardo
Studio: Cinema Libre

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Desert Bayou

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Thematic schizophrenia...it agrees that the media stereotype blacks as uneducated thugs and rappers, while its own main characters are crack addicts, ex-cons, and Master P.

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
02/03/08
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

A fascinating glimpse at the almost endless obstacles given to Katrina survivors...

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
01/27/08
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

This little known human interest story is a fascinating one.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
11/26/07
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Director] LeMay earns points for his balanced presentation of key figures on both sides.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/13/07
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There is undeniable power to the central dilemma of human beings at a crossroads.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
10/26/07
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A thoughtful and interesting look at a little-told Katrina story.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
10/26/07
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

A case of great material and sloppy presentation.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
10/26/07
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Screenwriter Thomas Lemmer and director Alex LeMay appear to have some sort of agenda or ax to grind.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
10/25/07
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Desert Bayou is at its most compelling when it stops preachifying and focuses on the lives of two troubled families.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/25/07
Teresa Wiltz
Teresa Wiltz
Washington Post

People rarely enter into audacious commitments with such unforeseeable consequences. For me, it casts Utah in a new and, surprisingly, positive light.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
10/22/07
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

The result is by turns sad, infuriating, frustrating and cautiously hopeful.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/18/07
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Does great justice to the appalling aftermath of the biggest natural disaster to hit America in our lifetime.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
10/12/07
Nida Najar
Nida Najar
New York Press

LeMay's approach is a clumsily obvious one which demeans everything by turning the men's experiences into a kind of reality-TV soap opera.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
10/12/07
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International

A scathing documentary baring a nation into deep denial about lingering buried injustices and inequities which rose to the surface exposed to the light of day, in the wake of the Katrina floods.

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
10/09/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio

The failure of our current administration to act openly and efficiently in a time of crisis gets another documentary close-up in Alex LeMay's humanistic and provocative Desert Bayou.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
10/05/07
Gary Goldstein
Gary Goldstein
Reel.com

There are thousands of untold stories still left to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It's worth hearing the ones Alex LeMay shares in this compassionate, if somewhat underdeveloped, documentary.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
10/05/07
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

Feels less like a revelatory feature film than several shorts strung together.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/05/07
Matt Zoller Seitz
Matt Zoller Seitz
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fascinating and guardedly hopeful tale about race, class, religion and geography in American life.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
10/04/07
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com

Succeeds in furthering the much-needed dialogue on a defining event in our current political moment.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
10/04/07
Rob Humanick
Rob Humanick
Slant Magazine

The lengthy and often heartbreaking interview sequences in the second half ultimately reveal a story that is, metaphorically at least, a tad less black-and-white.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
10/03/07
Clark Collis
Clark Collis
Entertainment Weekly
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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all

Latest News for Desert Bayou

October 18, 2007: DesertBayouMovie.com: A damning documentary about the far less than welcoming open arms extended to these domestic refugees when they were airlifted out of harm's way into a different kind of uncertainty and racial animosity. Opens in new window
More...

October 08, 2007: A provocative post-Katrina documentary. Opens in new window
More...

October 04, 2007: Critical Consensus: Heartbreak Needs Discipline, Jane Worth Perusing, Seeker Reeks
This week at the movies, we've got honeymooners (The Heartbreak Kid, starring Ben Stiller and Michelle Monhagan), teenage heroes (The Seeker, starring Alexander Ludwig),... More...

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