Crossroads Film Festival 2007: Some Sweet Flicks

Home Again

Low and Behold
Zack Godshall, 89 minutes
March 31, Parkway Screen B, 3 p.m.

“Low and Behold,” written by director Zack Godshall and actor Barlow Jacobs—both natives of Louisiana—is an effort to create an elegy to victims of Hurricane Katrina while still offering signs of hope. The film is successful not only in artistically capturing the natural devastation but in casting light on the personal dilemmas survivors faced during reconstruction efforts on the Gulf Coast.

From the outset, protagonist Turner Stull (played by Jacobs) seems an outsider to the region and indifferent to the stories of homeowners whose properties he inspects as a newly licensed insurance claims adjuster. Awkward and lanky, Turner is unable to express his frustrations or articulate his opinions. His inability to communicate leaves him at the mercy of his Uncle Stully (also his employer), who derides Turner for angering homeowners with his tardiness and detachment, which is mistaken for insensitivity.

It quickly becomes apparent why Turner is unable to make all of his daily-scheduled appointments: Homeowners use his visit as an opportunity to reiterate, at length, the stories of their loss. Their personal accounts actually become one of the greatest pleasures of the film, which is neorealist in its true-to-life plot, use of actors (all of whom are natives of New Orleans) and documentary-style cinematography.

Early on, Turner meets the catalyst for his change—Nixon, a laid off local factory-worker. Nixon frustrates Turner’s determination to maintain a rigid routine, first by badgering him for a ride to search for his lost dog, and then by insisting he accompany Turner as he surveys houses. Nixon’s persistence eventually erodes Turner’s diffidence, and through his familiarity with the poverty and personalities of the tenements, Nixon imparts an understanding that finally allows Turner to do his job effectively.

The film captures the strange desolation left by the storm. After getting drunk at a party at his house, Uncle Stully, who is fun-spirited yet burdened by depression, announces to the crowd: “I want to go home, but I am home.”