LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton has two storylines, both of which show the impoverished lives of residents in the American South. The documentary draws the connection—a vicious cycle—between poverty and the lack of educational opportunity for black people living in the Mississippi Delta, over 150 years after the abolition of slavery.
Laura Lee (LaLee) Wallace, a great-granddaughter of a slave, is an illiterate 62-year-old woman who has been living all her life in Tallahatchie County, one of the poorest in the United States. She has two surviving son, nine daughters, 38 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. Her daily life consists of many difficulties: LaLee has to raise many of her grandchildren; her son is continually put in prison; and most of her daughters have to leave Tallahatchie County searching for work. LaLee's life is heavily dependent on the cotton industry; she struggles to earn a living by cooking lunches for people working in local cotton factories.
Reggie Barnes is the superintendent of the West Tallahatchie school system, which is put on probation by the state due to poor standardized test results. The school has the hardship of trying to educate the children of illiterate parents. The state will take over the school if it is unable to improve the annual standardized test scores.
Production and release
The documentary is noted for using direct cinema techniques, thus creating a "more intimate and confronting work."[2]
LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton received highly positive reviews from the critics. The documentary received a score of 78 out of 100 at Metacritic based on 5 reviews.[3]The New York Times's critic A. O. Scott praised the film as "an exemplary work of cinéma vérité that allows its subjects to speak for themselves."[4]TV Guide rated the film 3 out of 4 stars.[5] Meanwhile, Variety magazine considered the film "an especially humanistic entry in the Maysles canon."[6]
