Detropia: A Portrait of America’s Orphan City

by: Xena Blair

Detropia is a harrowing and elegantly portrayed documentary film that looks at Detroit’s economic crisis and the people who are directly affected by it. Once the center of a thriving auto industry, Detroit has become an abandoned ghost town. While the media has made us aware of this, few have made an honest effort to show what struggle in Detroit looks like on a day-to-day basis.

Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady make great team as film makers, as demonstrated in Jesus Camp. Detropia is rich in content and complex human emotion while managing to lay out concerns about basic human survival in America . The fact that Ewing and Grady are women adds humanity and a level of decency that otherwise could not be achieved. They have a natural aptitude to focus in on subjects in a way that reveals something so devastating and hopeful that you are forced to sit-up and pay attention. Additionally, their ability to immerse themselves in their subject’s lives translates to film. Detropia is personal, poignant and in your face.

Detropia is currently playing in Detroit and New York City.