John Legend produced documentary A Crime on the Bayou is a frustrating, soulful, hopeful telling of the events that led to the landmark Supreme Court decision in Duncan v Louisiana.
While trying to peacefully intercede in a conflict between a large group of white teenagers and two black teens, Gary Duncan touched the arm of one of the white boys. He was subsequently arrested and charged a variety of times with a number of crimes. Duncan’s mother convinces him not to plead guilty and the legal battle begins. Richard Sobol, a Jewish civil rights attorney headed to Louisiana to represent Gary Duncan.
The story of this case is the story of a mother helping her son to stand up for justice. It’s a story of endemic racism deep in the Louisiana Bayou. Crime on the Bayou is a story of justice and maybe more importantly, it is the story of a life-long friendship born of trauma.
There is a lot to like about this film.
The interviews with the key people involved combined with historical footage paint a detailed picture of the story including their fears, anger and other emotions as they try and save Gary from a complete miscarriage of justice and institutionalized racism.
The parish boss where all of this took place was Leander Perez, a bigot and anti-semite who at one point has Sobol arrested to try and disrupt his defense of Duncan. Video of Perez’s TV appearances show who he truly is and it’s a disturbing portrait of a hateful man in power. Both sad and dangerous simultaneously.
The scoring of this film is brilliant, but since John Legend is involved that’s not a huge surprise. Quiet view of the bayou as soulful jazz trumpets carry you over the waters. Gentle piano music ferries you through the history of this historic case.
The music choices are perfect throughout the film.
At a variety of points during the documentary we hear dramatic readings of the testimony in the cases voiced by actors. I found this to be distracting and there had to be a better narrative device since these moments sometimes brought more questions than answers. Is there a recording? Is that what they sounded like? This is a fine film so nitpicking over this minor thing isn’t something I am particularly interested in doing.
There was not enough development of the friendship between the two men, even though after Sobol died in 2020, Duncan was quoted as saying, “When he (Sobol) passed away, I lost part of myself. He was one of the greatest people in the world.”
Tell me more about the love and friendship here, especially when the start of their friendship was born of trauma. Highlighting the importance of the black community and the Jewish community being close together in the face of shared experience is something I wanted to see more of. Bondage, oppression, discrimination and hate permeate both the communities mentioned here. In a perfect world we would take the trauma of our histories and use them to leverage political alliances to improve the possibility of making the world more just by working together.
4 out of 5 stars
* * * * *
\Produced by Mike Jackson, John Legend, Ty Stiklorius, Austyn Biggers
Written and Directed by Nancy Buirski
Featuring Gary Duncan, Richard Sobol, Lolis Eric Elie, Robert A. Collins, Armand Derfner
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