I really wanted to like this movie. I saw it in a community hall with the director present. Most of it was filmed in my town. Philippe Spurrell's intention was commendable, which he stated was to educate people on the history of blacks in Canada. But you've got to be entertaining and coherent.<br /><br />Here's what went wrong: first and most glaringly, the era. It's insane that anyone could have crazy white people holding colonies of black slaves in a farm shed in 1968. The fictional town of Ste-Harmonie is a short bus ride from Montreal, not a remote jungle village accessible only by footpath. It just made everything fall apart. And why invent a story that never happened and present it as a history lesson? Isn't there enough real history to explore? I can think of a dozen ways to tell this story that wouldn't have elicited laughs or groans.<br /><br />Then there were odd anachronisms like James not having a cell phone in 2006. He has to use the old rotary dial phone in a bar. Guess what? People in the country have cordless phones just like city folk. And the bus! There are no buses from Montreal to rural towns and there haven't been for at least 30 years. It's as if the director is lost in a Green Acres time warp.<br /><br />To give the movie its due, the look of it was very nice with great outdoor cinematography and realistic props. I understand it was made for practically nothing, which would preclude re-shoots and even dialogue rewrites. And though most of the cast was on the wooden side, the lead actor was pretty decent.<br /><br />To be honest, in the end I rather enjoyed watching most of The Descendant, though I couldn't admire it. There's talent there, as yet very raw but probably worth developing. Give this man some money, a good script, good actors and I'm sure he has a career ahead of him.<br /><br />Let's call this movie growing pains and wait for the next one.