‘Natchez’ documentary examines clashing histories in Mississippi town

Suzannah Herbert’s documentary "Natchez," now in theaters, profiles the Mississippi town once prominent in the cotton trade and home to one of the largest slave markets from 1833 to 1863, focusing on its privately owned antebellum mansions and the competing stories their owners tell, the New York Times review by Alissa Wilkinson reports.

The film follows several residents who guide tours and shape local memory: Tracy Collins, a Black Baptist pastor who sometimes goes by "Rev" and gives van tours promising "truth and facts" that might challenge some "Southern pride" pieties; Tracy McCartney, a white volunteer who dresses in a hoop skirt at Choctaw Hall; Deborah Cosey, a Black owner of Concord Quarters where enslaved people lived and worked; and David Garner, a white homeowner who, the review says, is unafraid to use a shocking racist slur on tours, prompting some guests to chuckle.

Herbert frames the town with fairy-tale conventions and a distinct visual style. Working with cinematographer Noah Collier, the film captures Natchez in a dreamy way, the light described as "filmy and glowing," while the film begins with the mayor at a garden club meeting proclaiming that the "new" Natchez will appreciate the town's full history — a statement the review calls more wish than reality.

The documentary traces personal change alongside civic memory.

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