‎South (1999) directed by Chantal Akerman • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

South

1999 ‘Sud’ Directed by Chantal Akerman

Chantal Akerman investigates the American Deep South through the story of a lynching and grisly murder of an African-American man that took place in Texas in 1998.

71 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Willow Maclay ★★★½

There's some staggering imagery in here for sure (the deep focus on the woman singing in church, the prison workers). Akerman seems to be making a very loose connection to her own history of growing up around relatives who survived the holocaust, and the parallels between that genocide and the persistent racism in America. Chantal is a filmmaker of personal interests, frequently inserting herself into the narrative, and I'm unsure if it's needed here. The problem with that is that if Chantal didn't follow her interests it wouldn't be her movie. Clumsy is the word that comes to mind when thinking about South. It's too big of a topic and the movie never really sinks it's teeth into the subject…
Review by TajLV ★★★

Film #32 among my 52 Films by Women 2017

This documentary from Belgium's renowned writer-director Chantal Akerman focuses on the events surrounding a hate crime that occurred in Jasper, Texas in 1998. An African-American man named James Byrd Jr. was beaten by three white men before they chained him and dragged him behind their pick-up truck for three miles on country roads. Pieces of his body were found strewn all along the route, and his torso was dumped in front of a black cemetery.

To set the stage for an exploration of the racial prejudice that motivated such a ghastly act, Akerman first takes on a drive through the rural south, including scenes from Alabama and Arkansas as well as…
Review by Adriana Scarpin ★★★★½

Filme perturbador, especialmente porque hoje acordamos com a notícia daquele protesto na Virginia da extrema direita americana, que inclusive se autodenominaram nazistas e cujo mote é minimizar a existência de negros, judeus e imigrantes em geral em nome da supremacia ariana. Se Chantal tratou isso há quase vinte anos como resquícios da Ku Klux Klan, especialmente explorando aquele magnífico travelling através da estrada em que aquele músico negro foi arrastado, uma espécie de retorno espaço-temporal de uma época abismal, ver a extrema direita voltando a ganhar força no século 21, inclusive em representantes do Estado, é uma situação atroz.
Review by calamityhey ★★★★½

The apex of Akerman's exploration of the way humans shape and are shaped by the space they occupy. Also the best use of talking heads ever (?) providing both the requisite historical context while also imploring the viewer to interrogate the pieces of history that aren't being touched on. In this way Akerman has sort of figured out how to aestheticize and give form to America's institutionalized racism. Trees are no longer just trees, the gas stations and country homes hide something sinister, and a sustained shot of a country road from the back of a truck asserts itself as one of the most gut-wrenching scenes ever filmed.

Its very easy to make a movie about how small towns aren't…
Review by Mauricio Xavier ★★★★

Very much an outsider's film, both in the almost traditional "please-explain-this-to-the-camera" talking-head scenes (which are still somewhat non-traditional in that they show the whole body and, weirdly, fade to black whenever there's a cut mid-interview) and in the myriad of long takes, be them the static shots from very far back or the ones where the camera takes a car ride around town. In endless car rides we seem to join Akerman in a search for meaning, for something among these cars and homes and woods that could crack the code of man's cruelty to man, put us on the path to solving it. Some scenes pack some of that meaning (the scene with the sheriff and with the historian…
Review by Jackson Kim Murphy ★★★½

So strange to see Akerman take on the role of an outsider, largely removed from her autobiographical tendencies. A more traditional documentary would employ an economic approach to the material, pairing the audio of the interviews with the tracking shots of the town. Instead, the two are separated, alternating with one another. This simple rhythm effectively removes the film's capacity for a distinctive perspective; the authorial voice, or lack thereof, boils down to essential acts of listening and reflecting. Glimpses at laboring prisoners, black children playing on a dilapidated swing set, and working class neighborhoods all contain racial dynamics regarding economics and social status. While these elements aren’t highlighted by a vocal narration, they remain omniscient forces. Akerman is a tourist, as is the viewer, left to digest the words of locals during these prolonged street-view tours. Unlike the townsfolk, we have the freedom to ponder in private and, later, to forget the traumas entirely.

Recent reviews

Review by Zach A ★★★★½

In South, Akerman allows people and the spaces that surround them to guide viewers through a devastating narrative. I entered the film mostly unaware of the production's background or its points of emphasis; once again, Akerman proved she has an inimitable ability to gradually absorb me in a story before I even recognize what the narrative is about. By focusing on the sidewalks, houses, storefronts, pedestrians, churches, etc., that surround the tragic murder of James Byrd, Jr., she constructs an image of an unnervingly familiar and ordinary world in which racism – and the united responses to its hatred – is this lived-in world’s daily reality.

Yet, there is a paradoxical quality to this filmmaking. The long takes of this…
Review by Max Restaino ★★★★½

Chantal Akerman takes her role of the observer to a different level in SOUTH. While we still get plenty of her documentary trademarks, she isn't simply creating paintings here. She is using them to punctuate and illustrate the horrifying hate crime that shocked the town whose portrait she is taking.
Review by Emily ★★★★

Beauty in nature & brutality in reality
Review by Jackson Kim Murphy ★★★½

So strange to see Akerman take on the role of an outsider, largely removed from her autobiographical tendencies. A more traditional documentary would employ an economic approach to the material, pairing the audio of the interviews with the tracking shots of the town. Instead, the two are separated, alternating with one another. This simple rhythm effectively removes the film's capacity for a distinctive perspective; the authorial voice, or lack thereof, boils down to essential acts of listening and reflecting. Glimpses at laboring prisoners, black children playing on a dilapidated swing set, and working class neighborhoods all contain racial dynamics regarding economics and social status. While these elements aren’t highlighted by a vocal narration, they remain omniscient forces. Akerman is a tourist, as is the viewer, left to digest the words of locals during these prolonged street-view tours. Unlike the townsfolk, we have the freedom to ponder in private and, later, to forget the traumas entirely.
Review by Adriana Scarpin ★★★★½

Filme perturbador, especialmente porque hoje acordamos com a notícia daquele protesto na Virginia da extrema direita americana, que inclusive se autodenominaram nazistas e cujo mote é minimizar a existência de negros, judeus e imigrantes em geral em nome da supremacia ariana. Se Chantal tratou isso há quase vinte anos como resquícios da Ku Klux Klan, especialmente explorando aquele magnífico travelling através da estrada em que aquele músico negro foi arrastado, uma espécie de retorno espaço-temporal de uma época abismal, ver a extrema direita voltando a ganhar força no século 21, inclusive em representantes do Estado, é uma situação atroz.
Review by TajLV ★★★

Film #32 among my 52 Films by Women 2017

This documentary from Belgium's renowned writer-director Chantal Akerman focuses on the events surrounding a hate crime that occurred in Jasper, Texas in 1998. An African-American man named James Byrd Jr. was beaten by three white men before they chained him and dragged him behind their pick-up truck for three miles on country roads. Pieces of his body were found strewn all along the route, and his torso was dumped in front of a black cemetery.

To set the stage for an exploration of the racial prejudice that motivated such a ghastly act, Akerman first takes on a drive through the rural south, including scenes from Alabama and Arkansas as well as…
Review by sydney lou who

25/52 - The Ultimate 52 Films by Women Challenge

Film #25 - Documentary

I miss Chantal Akerman every day.

The last shot of this film has haunted me since the first time I saw it (in I Don't Belong Anywhere) and it will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I feel similarly about this film as I did for D'Est, but here I appreciated the inclusion of the interviews. It made the film more poignant to me, to hear the people of the community tell their stories.
Review by calamityhey ★★★★½

The apex of Akerman's exploration of the way humans shape and are shaped by the space they occupy. Also the best use of talking heads ever (?) providing both the requisite historical context while also imploring the viewer to interrogate the pieces of history that aren't being touched on. In this way Akerman has sort of figured out how to aestheticize and give form to America's institutionalized racism. Trees are no longer just trees, the gas stations and country homes hide something sinister, and a sustained shot of a country road from the back of a truck asserts itself as one of the most gut-wrenching scenes ever filmed.

Its very easy to make a movie about how small towns aren't…
Review by Mark Garrett ★★★

For me the viewing is hampered by my familiarity with the site in question--as Akerman's film is propelled by the foreign, outsider quality with which she observes. However, the last shot is a vital and moving piece of filmmaking--a simple yet daring transportation to the last three miles of a man's life.