Louisiana Story

Like his previous films Nanook of the North, Moana, and Man of Aran, Robert Flaherty's Louisiana Story is a portrait of an isolated community: here, the Cajuns of the Louisiana bayous. In 1944 Standard Oil commissioned Flaherty to make a film depicting the difficulties of extracting oil, and in his usual style, he told his story from the perspective of a single family. The conflict between personal ownership and corporate enterprise is mediated and eventually resolved through the efforts of the Cajun family's young son (Joseph Boudreaux). As in his previous films, Flaherty shot not a real family, but one assembled from local inhabitants. The film's extended nature sequences are considered among Flaherty's greatest examples of his talent for creating beautiful and stirring images.

Louisiana Story was added to the National Film Registry in 1994.


 * Mockumentary: As described above.
 * Scenery Porn: The bayous. Ironic in that the film was made to promote drilling for oil in the area.