Mossville: When Great Trees Fall

Mossville: When Great Trees Fall is a thought-provoking documentary film from 2019 that paints a poignant picture of environmental degradation and societal disregard. It's not just a film about pollution and displacement, but a human story of survival, endurance, and the relentless struggle for justice. The deeply personal narrative transcends the screen, drawing viewers into an examination of environmental racism, corporate greed, and the power of resilience.

Although Mossville is based in Louisiana, USA, the situations and systemic issues it highlights resonate globally. The film goes beyond being just another documentary about environmental devastation to become a compelling and heartbreaking human drama that unfolds in real time.

The film stars and follows the inspirational Stacey Ryan, a lifelong resident of Mossville, Louisiana – an old, predominantly black community founded by freed slaves and sharecroppers. Mossville was once a lively thriving community brimming with greenery, a flourishing ecosystem, and a close-knit population that lived off of the land. But, the town gets reformed into an industrial wasteland after the settlement of 14 petrochemical plants over time. This reason alone makes the film an incisive study of environmental racism.

In Mossville: When Great Trees Fall, audiences watch as Stacey, who refuses to leave his homeland, becomes encircled by sprawling plastic plants and literal life-threatening air quality. As a beacon of unyielding defiance, Stacey battles with ill health and displacement, symbolizing the strength and determination of individuals in the face of profound adversity. His heartrending determination to protect his family's ancestral land from being taken over by a South African petrochemical company pervades the film, providing a heroic vein of resistance throughout the stormy narrative.

Directed by Alexander John Glustrom, the film makes use of numerous cinematic tools to evoke a robust emotional response. The brilliant cinematography crafted by Daniel Bennett, Alexander Glustrom, and Jonathan J. Scott captures the astounding beauty and cruelty of Mossville’s environmental transformation. Their eye for detail highlights both the stunning natural beauty that is being destroyed and the surreal industrial scenery that is replacing it – from visually dramatic shots of towering chimneys spewing out plumes of smoke to intimate scenes of Stacey's life among the shadows of these ominous factories.

The film's soundtrack complements the visual drama. Composed by Eric Johan, the score adds a stirring ambiance to the film, resonating with the emotional highs and lows of Mossville's tale. It fluctuates between hauntingly melancholic and defiantly hopeful, much like the story it underscores.

In a world grappling with climate change discussions and shifting towards sustainable development, Mossville: When Great Trees Fall is an engaging exploration of the environmental disparities that often fall through the cracks of such conversations. It also underscores the impact of unregulated industrial emission on marginalized communities that are cut off from help and, by extension, from hope.

With a strong narrative arc and relentless optimism at its heart, the film underscores in bold strokes that environmental issues are not merely scientific or economic challenges. They are inherently tied to broader societal issues like race, ethics, governance, and human rights. The film is a sobering reminder that environmental justice still remains an elusive dream for many, even in the 21st century.

Mossville: When Great Trees Fall is a stirring, heart-rendering film. It is a critically important documentary that educates the public on environmental racism and corporate negligence, and brings the crisis of climate change up close, making it real, personal, and impossible to ignore. This is not just a story of a place, but a story of its people, their endurance, their plight, and their undying hope, which resonates long after the final credits roll.