Highly Overrated But Still Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Documentary of the barge men of the Mississippi river. A seemingly bleak and somber job leads to this rather bleak and somber documentary. It's interesting enough, but despite the fact that it can pay up to 6 figures, they do not make this look like a job one would want.28 days on board and 14 days off. Shifts of 6 hours on, 6 hours off virtually guarantee that no one gets a full night's sleep for almost a month at a time. Repetitive, mindless labor punctuated by periods of boredom, and the possibility that you may be aboard, and in close quarters with, people you don't particularly like.It doesn't require a college degree, but I'd say it would take a man with patience aplenty to do this work. While watching this, I kept thinking it was like watching a documentary about a chain gang. It may be very interesting, but it's not going to be fun.

I saw this at the Montclair Film Festival. Its a very interesting film that looks into peoples lives everyone from people with a criminal record to the manager of barge. The film is very hypnotic with long shots of the barge with beautiful cinematography of the barges in between hearing the stories. It can be slow at times but during those slow moments you see beautiful vistas making the slow parts more interesting. Its interesting looking into a work field that not many people know about moving thees giant ships which at times can be dangerous. Represented in the storm scenes which to most people seem dangerous the people just take it as it happens everyday. I recommend this film to people who like documentaries like Hoop Dreams and American Movie. Hopefully there is a barge 2.

This film won the Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at the Dallas International Film Festival. It focus on the individual stories of crew members operating up and down the lower Mississippi River as they load on, lash together, and then drop off, loads of grain, coal and other commodities. Each person has a story to tell as to why the have chosen this life, which takes them away from home for 28 days at a stretch through anniversaries, kids activities, and other events. Yet, someone with only a high school education, and even a criminal record, can work their way up to a six figure salary.Great cinematography focusing on an life unknown to most people. The slow pace of the film reflects the slow movement of the barge, but yet it is never dull.