MOVIE OF THE WEEK January 31, 2026: NATCHEZ
“Complicated” doesn’t begin to describe the history of Natchez, Mississippi, one of the oldest European-settled cities in the American South. Race, class, and power have been tangled together in its fabric ever since it was founded in the early 1700s (two years before New Orleans, the residents will be very proud to tell you). The resulting constrictor knot is at the heart of filmmaker Suzannah Herbert’s engrossing observational documentary Natchez.
Full of stately antebellum homes whose graceful proportions can’t make up for the fact that they were built on the blood, sweat, and tears of enslaved people, Natchez draws tourists of all stripes to its tree-lined streets. Many flock to the city for its annual Spring Pilgrimage, in which hosts dressed in Gone With the Wind-style costumes offer house and garden tours accompanied by cocktails and euphemisms (i.e. the long-ago owners had “servants,” never “slaves”). But other visitors are more interested in the grittier side of Natchez’ past, one marked by the stains of slave auctions, Jim Crow laws, and the desire to ignore the generational trauma caused by centuries of racism.
Herbert follows a variety of notable Natchez denizens involved in sharing the city’s history with its guests, from David Garner, the elderly White, gay owner of Choctaw Hall — one of the most famous homes featured in the Pilgrimage — to Tracy Collins, a Black pastor who prides himself on giving honest, educational tours of the city he loves, even though it’s far from perfect. The marked contrast between the two types of experiences illustrates the tension involved in coming to terms with the painful history of the United States, especially the South. Garner’s guests, White and well-heeled, are more likely to sip a glass of white wine while talking about how nice it is to “escape” into a more genteel past for a moment, while Collins’ patrons (still mostly White, but at least more open-minded) are looking for truth — and hopeful for change.
Through it all, Herbert is there to listen and observe, but never to interfere (the camera’s fly-on-the-wall role is especially clear in a truly jaw-dropping moment near the end of the film). The result is a documentary that’s both informative and infuriating, much like the history of Natchez itself. The struggle to reconcile a past that many are still determined to regard through thick rose-colored glasses seems poised to continue, especially in the current social and political climate. As a park ranger says of the die-hard Pilgrimage faithful in Natchez, “It’s hard work to come to a point where you’re able to say ‘the history I learned was a mythological construct that was used to sell tickets.'” — Betsy Bozdech
Team #MOTW’s comments:
Nell Minow: Who decides what stories define our past and influence our present? How do we find an honest way to tell our history, without making ourselves the heroes? Suzannah Herbert’s documentary is a Thoughtful consideration of those questions, set in a small Mississippi town enmeshed in its history, or a version of its history, for emotional, cultural, and, most important, economic reasons. Natchez was once one of the wealthiest towns in the country, with white cotton plantation owners living in grand homes with exquisite furnishings and Black enslaved people picking the cotton that paid for it. Nearby was an auction site that sold 750,000 enslaved men, women, and children. When the economy collapsed, not due to the end of slavery but to the destruction of the boll weevil, the women of the town found another source of revenue — tourism, touting the mansions for visitors who paid to have their antebellum fantasies brought to life. As perspectives changed, both in the town and from the tourists, we see Black residents working to make sure their heritage is reflected. Herbert’s patient camera lets us form our own conclusions in an exceptionally timely story that is in itself a significant history.
Leslie Combemale Suzannah Herbert’s documentary gives a fascinating, crystal clear picture of two very different towns. One is a community of Southern belles and gentlemen who strive to maintain the history of their ancestors, the wealthy landed gentry who thrived in the 1800s. The other is a community of men and women descended from the enslaved whose back-breaking, soul-crushing forced labor made the lives of the landed gentry possible. Natchez captures the ongoing divide that exists in towns throughout the South — one in which white folk hold fast to the mythology that their wealth exists exclusively through the hard work of their own ancestors. Slavery appears to be a forgotten footnote. Without preaching, Herbert reveals how racism plays an integral role in today’s America, and how far we have to go as a society in making sure we don’t repeat the cruelties and abuses of our past. Read full review.
Sherin Nicole When I hosted the Natchez Q&A at DC/DOX, I opened with the idea that Suzannah Herbert’s documentary asks, “What is America’s true story, and how do we become a United States if we can’t narrate it collaboratively?” One of the things that’s so compelling about Natchez is that it’s constructed like a thriller. At rise, this documentary could be a Southern drama in the vein of Steel Magnolias. But then the filmmakers slowly pull back those lacy antebellum curtains to show us the animosity seething underneath. To that point, the line that struck me is: “The history I learned was a mythological construct that was used to sell tickets.” This idea of “tidying up” history runs throughout, leading us to the duality at the heart of the story. While their lineages are different, in many ways the people of Natchez are two sides divided. It’s a family feud where the truth can only be seen through many points of view, and yet one of the strongest underlying themes is denial, and their denial is a matter of economics.
Sandie Angulo Chen: At first, Natchez appears to be a thoughtful—if overly understanding—exploration of the titular Mississippi city’s genteel tradition of garden tours through its antebellum mansions, still owned by fifth- and sixth-generation descendants of slaveholders. But as director Suzannah Herbert’s documentary progresses, it becomes clear that she’s also exposing the hypocrisy, denial, and racism that persist beneath the manicured lawns and elaborate table settings. From the overt bigotry of a white, aristocratic gay homeowner to the willful ignorance of another who insists on calling enslaved people “servants,” Herbert destroys the fantasy that these pageant-like tours—complete with period gowns—are harmless Gone With the Wind nostalgia. By the end, Natchez leaves viewers not only unsettled, but motivated to seek out and support the tours (mostly Black owned, but a couple of them run by the parks department or white homeowners) that confront the city’s history honestly, revealing uncomfortable truths about the history of Natchez, Mississippi, and America.
Loren King Suzannah Herbert’s brilliantly observed documentary Natchez, an immersive look at a small town in Mississippi where cotton, slavery and plantations once ruled, builds in quiet power. We meet several characters from Natchez whose livelihoods depend on tourism, including garden club members whose mansions lovingly recall the antebellum South. Questions immediately emerge: what are these tourists being told and sold and whose stories make up American history? The film gradually reveals itself to be a riveting and illuminating portrait of a community of contradictions standing at a crossroads. I will not soon forget the people profiled in Natchez. There’s Tracy, an unassuming young woman who references Scarlett O’Hara in a hoop skirt and who turns out to have unexpected depth; an outgoing tour guide known as “Rev,” a pastor and historian whose tours include a stop where slaves where bought and sold that counters the whitewashed narrative of the town’s past; and David Garner, the genteel gay owner of Choctaw Hall whose (likely drunken) racist diatribe about Southern history and present day politics toward the end of the film might leave you shocked but not surprised. Natchez raises right-up-to-the-moment questions about accountability, history, tourism and the personal role we all play in collective memory.
Jennifer Merin Natchez is filmmaker Suzannah Herbert’s documentary about the small Southern city with a huge history. The titular town is actually the oldest city on the Mississippi. Residents take pride in boasting their city’s two year seniority over New Orleans. Historically, Natchez has been a prosperous community, a Mississippi hub for cuture and the arts, endowed with an awesome array of beautiful historic mansions that have been cafrefully maintained through the ages. Today, Natchez is a popular destination for US and international tourists who want to view the historic mansions and experience the city’s legendary Southern charm and hospitality. Read full review
Liz Whittemore Suzannah Herbert’s engrossing documentary, Natchez, follows the Mississippi town’s need for an economic pivot from cotton plantation powerhouse to antebellum tourism. The Natchez Garden Club women devised a plan to save the town from financial ruin by opening their homes for what they considered preservation and history lessons. Today, many tour guides are cosplaying a whitewashed history, calling it tradition, while the ancestors of slaves provide a more accurate experience. Pablo Proenza’s editing is king in Natchez‘s visceral impact. The difference in language speaks volumes about truth and narrative style. The seemingly subtle shift between tour scripts has huge subconscious impacts when juxtaposed. You cannot walk away from this film without feeling deeply affected. It will rightly remain under your skin against your will.
Cate Marquis Suzannah Herbert’s excellent documentary Natchez takes a close look at Natchez, Mississippi, a small city with a big history and a wealth of beautiful antebellum homes, a city for which tourism is its life blood. But Herbert’s documentary has a twist, lifting the veil on that Southern “charm and hospitality” myth and antebellum fantasy, by focusing on a more real, less romantic view of the city. The film does this by spotlighting the people — Black and White — of the town’s tourism industry, who guide the city tours, run the B&Bs and mansion tours, and the town’s “Garden Club” that really runs much of the show. It is a fascinating, and a more frank and truthful look at the real Natchez, then and now, through the eyes of the people who work there in its essential economic engine of tourism. This surprisingly engrossing, revealing documentary gives us honest, diverse viewpoints of various people, in the business of catering to tourism in this place, which has a history of being a bit more “blue city” than you expect in the Deep South. We hear from people ranging from a lively, gay white man who gives tours and dinners at his restored mansion but who has some questionable views, to a charming Black pastor/tour guide who runs tours for the city and gently introduces tourists to some of the harder truths of the South. The film has a wealth of eye-opening information, not just about Natchez but about the South in general, along with a hopeful message that historic preservation of beautiful buildings can be combined with preserving other historically significant sites, as well as a more accurate and complete telling of Southern history.
FILM DETAILS:
Title: Natchez
Director: Suzannah Herbert
Release Date: December 31, 2026 (limited)
Running Time: 86 minutes
Language: English
Screenwriters: Suzannah Herbert, Pablo Proenza (documentary)
Lead Characters : Kathleen Bond, Ser Clifford Boxley, Tracy Collins
Distribution Company: Oscilloscope
AWFJ Movie of the Week Panel Members: Sandie Angulo Chen, Betsy Bozdech, Leslie Combemale, Loren King, Cate Marquis, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow, Sherin Nicole, Liz Whittemore
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Edited by Jennifer Merin
