At the dawn of the 21st century, there are still pockets of traditional folkways in Louisiana's bayous where alligator grease relieves asthma, a buried potato cures warts, and "smoking a baby" eases the pain of colic. This documentary by Glen Pitre and Nicole Falgoust takes viewers to a world where faith healing, herbal remedies and ritual magic are still an everyday occurrence. It follows respected traiteurs (in English, "treaters") as they gather wild teas, brew home-made cough syrup, invoke the saints at their home altars, and most of all, heal the sick.
Miss Ella, an African-American Creole woman in her late 70s, gets calls daily from an underground network of the troubled looking for her prayers and counseling on grief, romantic entanglements, legal problems, elderly care, and even cooking. One visitor may be looking for a cure for arthritis, the next for witchcraft or love charms.
Lawrence, a Houma Indian, learned the healing arts from his tribal elders because as a child he was too overweight to go out and play. Today he totes a briefcase filled with wild herbs, rosaries, store-bought liniments, and the twine used to fashion the mystical "string of nine knots." But how does an itinerant, illiterate healer function in the 1990s? During the course of filming, Lawrence must deal with the notoriety - and heavy case load- that arises after his appearance on local television, then must visit a conventional doctor when major illness threatens him.
Shannon, a twenty-something Cajun woman, learned the secret healing rites from an aging treater; today she harvests wild bark to treat toothache and cactus to cure diabetes. But how does Shannon reconcile her otherwise modern lifestyle with a remedy that involves circling herpes sores with chicken blood?
GLEN PITRE
WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
Glen Pitre has written, produced, and directed internationally acclaimed movies and television documentaries. In addition, he has written a number of motion picture screenplays, two novels and three non-fiction books, developed permanent exhibits for a half-dozen museums, developed syndicated radio programming, and created an award-winning web site.
A native of Cut Off, Louisiana, Pitre worked his way through Harvard by working on shrimp boats during the summer. By age 25, American Film magazine had dubbed him the "father of the Cajun film" for his French-language docu-dramas that were breaking box office records in South Louisiana cinemas. Today Pitre's body of work about the people and cultures of Louisiana has earned him numerous film, literary, humanities, arts, historical, cultural and environmental preservation honors.
Pitre's best-known work is the motion picture Belizaire the Cajun, starring Armand Assante as an 1850s treater. It was produced in association with the Sundance Institute and was a Selection Officielle at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, and garnered Pitre a knighthood from the French government.
NICOLE FALGOUST
RESEARCHER/PRODUCER
Thibodaux native Nicole Falgoust debuted on the stage of the Thibodaux Little Theater at the age of the five. She went on to study anthropology at Vanderbilt University, where she won the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa writing award and was elected president of the Anthropology Association. Her anthropological field work involved working with the closed societies of the native cultures of Mexico and the American Southwest and her work with the homeless in America's cities.
Falgoust also co-wrote and co-produced the 1996 award-winning environmental documentary Rescuing the Treasure. Currently, she is back at Vanderbilt writing a thesis on Louisiana folk medicine before resuming her field work and studies in Guatemala and Chile.
MICHELLE BENOIT
CO-PRODUCER
Michelle Benoit is a therapeutic bodyworker and writer in Lockport, Louisiana. The co-author of Country Roads of Louisiana and Great River with her husband Glen Pitre, she also co-produced the award-winning documentary Haunted Waters, Fragile Lands about the history and culture of the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary.
Recently Benoit was a consultant and editor for a chapter on folk treaters, commissioned by Reader's Digest for their forthcoming compendium on American folk medicine.
MICHAEL DOUCET
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Michael Doucet wrote the musical score for Good For What Ails You, his sixth musical collaboration with Glen Pitre. Doucet is best known as the lead singer and fiddle player for the critically acclaimed and Grammy-nominated Cajun band BeauSoleil, and for his work with The Savoy-Doucet Band.
Generally regarded as the top Cajun band in the world, the Lafayette-based BeauSoleil has opened for the Grateful Dead and played with Mary Chapin Carpenter on her 1991 Grammy-winning hit "Down at the Twist and Shout." They also joined Carpenter for a performance of the song at the Super Bowl two years ago.
Dedicated to the memory of Tommy Comeaux
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Joralemon, Donald. 1990. "The Selling of the Shaman and the Problem of Informant Legitimacy." Journal of Anthropological Research. 46 (2):105-118.
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Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1963. "The Effectiveness of Symbols." Structural Anthropology. Trans. by Claire Jacobson and Brooke G. Schoepf. New York: Basic Books.
Loizos, Peter. 1993. Innovation in Ethnographic Film: From Innocence to Self- Consciousness 1955-85. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
McGuire, Meredith B. 1994. Ritual Healing in Suburban America. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
Production Credits
written, produced, and directed by:
Glen Pitre
Researcher/Producer Nicole Falgoust
Co-Producer Michelle Benoit
Camera Rex Q. Fortenberry
Editor Reggie Wade
Audio Ben Williams
Music by:
Violin Michael Doucet
Guitars/Organ Tommy Comeaux
Elderphone/Flutes Austin Sonnier, Jr.
Percussion Billy Ware
Engineer Tony Daigle
Recorded at Settlement Studios, Lafayette, LA
"Good For What Ails You"
Lyrics by Charlie Duthu, music by Treater
Historian
Carl Brasseaux
Center for Louisiana Studies
Key Grip Jodie Fontenot
Additional Audio
Bryant Langlois
Chris Miranda
Steve Roppolo
Production Manager Ed Landry
Executive Producer Clay Fourrier
Thanks to
everyone who graciously
consented to be filmed
and
Callias Cable, Golden Meadow, LA
Chiquita's Chevron Cut Off, LA
The Dalin Shop, Houma, LA
The Dupre wedding party
Ellender Memorial Library Archives
Mount Pleasant Baptist Church
KLFY-TV, Lafayette, LA
Terrebonne General Medical Center
Jane Breaux
Beth Conklin
Dana David
Sprinky Durand
The Falgoust Family
Mary Frost
Maia Harris
Catherine Howard
Eddie Kurtz
Randy LaBry
Donna Laurents
Tesa Laviolette
Gladys Myles
Ken & Sue Neveaux
Maide Owens
Warren Perrin
Louian Pitre & Fly
Anthony Sagrera
John Salvaggio, MD
Patricia Scawin
Julie Sellers
Nick Spitzer
Carolyn Ware
James & Diana Schlesinger
Special Thanks to
Bollinger Shipyards
Ernie Vicknair
and to all of the traiteurs of
Southern Louisiana
who shared their time,
knowledge and precious gifts.
The producers do not endorse any of the remedies shown...
...but a prayer never hurts.
A Côte Blanche Production
in association with
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
© 1998 Côte Blanche Productions
and
Louisiana Educational Television Authority
For Dr. Tommy Comeaux
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