Belizaire the Cajun (1986)

Director:

Glen Pitre

Writer:

Glen Pitre (writer)

Release Date:

13 June 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot Keywords:

Louisiana | Cajun | Independent Film | Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Armand Assante	...	Belizaire Breaux
Gail Youngs	...	Alida Thibodaux
Michael Schoeffling	...	Hypolite Leger
Stephen McHattie	...	James Willoughby
Will Patton	...	Matthew Perry
Nancy Barrett	...	Rebecca
Loulan Pitre	...	Sheriff
Andre Delaunay	...	Dolsin
Jim Levert	...	Amadee Meaux
Ernie Vincent	...	Old Perry
Paul Landry	...	Sosthene
Allan Durand	...	Priest
Robert Duvall	...	The Preacher
Bob Edmundson	...	Head Vigilante
Charlie Goulas	...	Vigilante

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Cecelia, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Cote Blanche Productions

Trivia:

Features the Cajun music and singing of Michael Doucet and Beausoleil.

Quotes:

Priest: ...and for your penance say the Rosary five times. Now make a good Act of Contrition.
Belizaire: FIVE Rosaries? Father, I have never in my life had to say so much as three Rosaries, let alone five. One, two at the most ...
Priest: Belizaire, the penance comes from God. It's not something that you negotiate.

A Treat for VERY Select Audiences...

BELEZAIRE THE CAJUN is a film with a major problem. It tries to tell about a rather obscure part of American history (and THAT kills a mass market box office hook to get 'em into the theaters), and it tries to tell the story in an accurate, realistic way that doesn't whitewash some of the darker aspects of America's past. John Sayle's film MATEWAN did the same thing, and has exactly the same problems... and like MATEWAN, BELEZAIRE THE CAJUN is a deep, intense, and INTELLIGENT film which demands an intelligent audience. There's a big difference between the two films tho; BELEZAIRE tells it's story with a large dose of HUMOR along with the serious realities.

In short... people either LOVE the film, or they HATE it. I'm on the LOVE side.

Unless you lived in Cajun country, it's probable that you never learned anything about thier history or culture in school. To those of us who didn't, the film is a painless and interesting introduction... for me, it opened a door for further exploration. Up to BELEZAIRE THE CAJUN, the only exposure I'd had to this culture was an insane Cajun drill sergeant at Lackland Air Force Base... and suffice it to say that HE wasn't a strong inducement to further exploration of the subject! Just the same tho, BELEZAIRE had the effect of giving me a bit of understanding of where old Sergeant Cormier was coming from culturally, and long after the fact I understood him just a bit better.

An awful lot of us don't realize that Cajuns were, and ARE, a discriminated against minority in America. Learning that alone is worth the time to see the film. Besides that lesson, we get a pretty good overview of Cajun life and culture in the period. We see a fiercely independent people who accepted thier isolation from the American society at large and did so proudly, building thier own society within the American one, deep in the Louisiana bayous.

As I said... this is a film that you either hate or love, but I'd recommend it strongly.