Plan B Forum

By Tony Hardmon

This year, Detroit will be in the spotlight at the prestigious event in Park City, Utah. "Detropia," which has its world premiere Saturday, portrays the Motor City as a canary in the coal mine of America's economic future.

The feature-length documentary is one of many films playing at Sundance that reflect what's playing out across the country, in terms of the growing focus on corporate greed, poverty and income disparity.

"Detropia" could be among the standouts of the 2012 festival.

"It was a slam dunk for me the second I saw it," said David Courier, senior programmer for the festival. "It is definitely about Detroit, of course, but it is also using Detroit as a microcosm of America today. If there's one trend that we saw in films across the board, it's a re-examination and reinvention of the American dream in the wake of the economic collapse."

The city's struggles have had no lack of attention recently. There have been other documentaries, as well as national TV reports, photo books, art exhibits and references in pop songs.

But "Detropia" seems different, for a couple of reasons. One, it's made by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmakers Heidi Ewing, who grew up in Farmington Hills, Mich., and Rachel Grady. They are best known for the controversial 2006 documentary "Jesus Camp," which focused on an evangelical Christian summer camp. Two, it frames the story from the perspective of the decline and collapse of America's manufacturing base, with Detroit being at the epicenter.

"Our intention is not that somebody point the finger and say, 'Man, Detroit's really got problems.' If that's what happens, then we've failed at our job," Ewing said this week. "We want people to say, 'Man, that's happening in my city, too. How did we let it go this far? What is our American identity when we've allowed a city to come to this point? And what are our priorities?'

"Really, we want the story of Detroit to boomerang back to the viewer and reflect upon what's going on around them and their part of the country."

With evocative music and hauntingly lovely cinematography, "Detropia" conveys some of the emptiness and beauty of the city while delving deeply into the economic battering it has taken.

The villain of the piece could be the shift of manufacturing power from the U.S., where making things fueled the rise of the middle class, to countries such as Mexico and China, where the costs of producing goods can be much cheaper.

The movie, which took two years to plan and complete, doesn't shrink from harsh realities. There are familiar scenes of an abandoned house being torn down, people scavenging for scrap metal amid ruined buildings and community meetings filled with pain and resentment.

Crystal Starr, a 28-year-old blogger and barista who is featured prominently in the film, said she enjoyed it, but she wanted to see much more covered. Although many portraits of Detroit anger those who really know the city, she doesn't think that will be the dominant reaction this time.

"Maybe people will get pissed off, but I don't think that will be the initial response from viewers," Starr said.

The film's co-directors -- as well as producer Craig Atkinson, a former Detroiter -- were acutely aware of the pitfalls of overdoing the emphasis on Detroit's physical decay. When they shot empty or decaying structures, Ewing said, their effort was "to photograph them in a way that made you feel like you'd like to see that structure rebuilt, or you'd like to see that building repainted or renovated, or you'd like to see people inside it."

Ewing wants a wide audience to take this message away: "Detroit must be helped. It must be propped up. It must be encouraged. You want the audience to walk away with the feelings of pride in Detroit. That's a lot to accomplish in a film, but you can always hope."