DVD Review: Roots of Fire

 Roots of Fire (2022) 85 min. documentary available on DVD, Apple+ and Amazon Prime: https://www.rootsoffire.com/

I "liked" this independent feature-length documentary about the current Cajun scene—but primarily for my longtime interest in Cajun music and culture that began with Doug Kershaw in the sixties and seventies—and he gets mentioned in Roots of Fire but there’s no elaboration as to why he's of interest. His name and career are given no context. That lack of larger context basically goes for the entire documentary, despite some amateurish animated sequences that depict historical happenings. 

What we get are several contemporary Cajun musicians being followed around at home and on stage by the filmmakers, but the result is structured more like a sizzle tape than a narrative, either linear or non-linear. 

I don’t think we hear a single song, beginning to end, in the whole movie, nor any explanation as to where any particular song fits in any of the artists’ repertoire. There are so many classic Cajun songs that could be performed and explained, but aren't. The artists' original work fares no better. Why did any of these musicians compose or play a certain song? What's the song's significance? What gets a good reaction? Those questions are neither asked nor answered. 

We see the featured musicians and their bands in a hodgepodge of on-stage and off-stage footage, but we don’t really meet the bands. We never really learn who these people are, how they got started playing together, their career milestones, their approach to the classic Cajun music as opposed to their own compositions. 

This little-understood corner of the American experience can use all the exposure it can get, though. Any time America's diverse musical heritage can celebrate a little diversity in our collective culture and bring us together, that's a good thing.