The Descendants

Synopsis

Along a 130-kilometer stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, two realities coexist. The River Road bears witness to the still-visible legacy of the slave plantations founded by French colonists in the 18th century. Since the 1950s, another route has overlapped it: Cancer Alley, marked by a concentration of petrochemical industries and extreme pollution that is making the local population—mostly African American and disadvantaged—sick. By chronicling the current struggles on this cursed land, the film highlights the link between the history of slavery and environmental injustice, while examining France’s colonial legacy and its lasting consequences.