Remember the movie "300"? It's a fantasy action film about the 300 soldiers of Sparta who engage in a David and Goliath battle against a much larger and more powerful Persian army in 480 BC. On April 18, a documentary will be released that chronicles a present day David versus Goliath fight. But this time, the oystermen of Pointe a la Hache, La., play the role of David.
"Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Pointe a la Hache," details the struggles of the watermen in this Louisiana town. It's a primarily African-American fishing village of 300 residents who have worked the waters there for generations. Fishing, as one woman in the documentary says, is everything to the area.
But when the Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded in 2010, eventually releasing some 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the fishermen's fortunes took a devastating turn. The 90-minute film, produced, written and directed by Nailah Jefferson, documents their struggles in the years following the spill.
It's not a pretty picture. But it's a tale that needs to be told.
In the age of the 24-hour news cycle, we can barely get our arms around Russian President Vladimir Putin's saber rattling before the story gets kicked to the curb in favor of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The BP oil spill, its devastating effect upon Louisiana fisheries and the harvesters who depend on them? That's so 2010, isn't it?
It's all the more reason "Vanishing Pearls" — and other documentaries that study the plight of American fishermen — need to be made, and more importantly be seen.
People must know what's happening to Pointe a la Hache and to other small fishing villages in the Gulf of Mexico and around the country. So take a moment to watch the documentary trailer below. Then share it with anyone you think needs to know that U.S. fishing communities matter and are well-worth preserving.