Fenceline: A Company Town Divided

In Fenceline, filmmaker Slawomir Grunburg provides us with a fascinating tale of two cities, or more accurately, a single geographic area in rural Louisiana with two fractious communities--living on opposite sides of a running fence--who have two radically different stories to tell about the natural environment they share. On one side of the fence is Norco, a 75-year-old company town situated in the shadow of a huge, fire-breathing Shell chemical complex. On the other side of the fence is the largely African-American Diamond Community, none of whose residents work for Shell. Fenceline unfolds like a Mississippi Delta version of Rashomon: citizens of the Diamond Community and their ecological activist supporters point to a grave history of cancer and respiratory disease that they directly attribute to the neighboring plant. Norco residents--a tightly knit lot, deeply loyal to the company--point to the abundance of octogenarians among their ranks and a lack of serious health problems. Although there is some attempt to tell the story equitably from both sides of the fence, the sympathies of the filmmaker definitely come down on the side of the Diamond Community (those repeated shots of stygian smokestacks do the talking), and a good part of the video focuses on the efforts of Diamond residents to document pollution and community health problems, and lobby Shell for reparations and relocation of Diamond residents. Although this is a riveting documentary, it leaves many frustrating questions unanswered (particularly a deeper probe into the actual state of public health in Norco), and there's a tendency to imply a kind of toxic racism at work in the Norco area, when, in fact, the issues and circumstances seem much more complex. Despite these small flaws, this program--which aired on PBS's P.O.V. series--would be an excellent and unique addition to collections with an interest in environmental issues. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (G. Handman)