While, as a musician, I enjoyed many of the performances, I found this to be an entirely off-base depiction of the American south. Born and raised in Nashville, TN, I have "ventured off the highway ten miles" many times in Tennessee and never found anyone resembling the mythical southerners depicted in this film. My mother's family has lived in Tennessee for around two hundred years, and of the many stories I have heard about Tennessee as it was seventy-five years ago, I have heard only of intelligent, hard-working people who lived in small-towns, attended church regularly, often went to college out-of-state, drove cars, had electricity, were respectful of their spouses, and did not speak in tongues or pass snakes around on Sundays. These were not the richest of Southerners, they were just average Southerners. The South depicted in this film died with the founding of the TVA, if it hadn't died prior, and frankly it disgusts me that people from Canada and elsewhere are viewing this film and thinking that is at all an accurate depiction of the South.I currently live in Franklin County, TN, and even poorer southerners who live in cities like Cowan or Decherd do not resemble in the slightest the extreme versions of Southerns found in this film, so if planning a trip to the south to see the southerners sitting on their front porch playing a banjo with a hound dog next to them, save yourself plane fare and don't bother.

I am a huge fan of Jim White the musician, and I didn't make it through more than 23 minutes of this film. Now maybe things changed later; I'll grant that. Right at the beginning of the film, White procures a concrete statue of Jesus. He and some others remove it from where it lies in state along the entire length of the inside of a car trunk. But when it goes into the trunk of his seemingly equally large car, it protrudes beyond the back of the car, as if it doesn't fit--so we can see White's burden. It seems a telling incident: the heavy-handed symbolism and artsy contrivance stick out from White's cinematic vehicle like...well, You Know Who.By the time I stopped, nearly all of the people I'd seen talking were No Depression- magazine-darling musicians and other people who might have used the film toward an MFA. Not that there's anything wrong with the highly qualified and sometimes actually Southern talent here. (I especially enjoyed Harry Crews' storytelling.) But the film purports to be a sort of documentary road trip, exploring Southern spiritual culture, and instead was on its way to becoming--I repeat, I quit a third of the way in--a sometimes evocatively pretty, sometimes maddeningly awkward music video.Why drive around the Louisiana bayous if the people you "find" playing banjos and singing spirituals are, like you, likely to have tour schedules on MySpace?I emphasize: Jim White is a musical genius, and this film should not dissuade anyone from checking out his work or that of artists like Crews, the Handsome Family, etc. It's just an unfortunate misstep as a movie.

To amend the other comment, it is not primarily Louisiana, but North/Central/East Florida up to North Georgia/South Carolina area. I lived 23 years in Gainesville, FL, my master's thesis required me to extensively examine Southern Appalachian culture, I know people who have had Harry Crews for a professor, I have read much southern literature, and I am familiar with the Cracker culture. I only state this to show I am more researched with the "true" South. It is a good and rather accurate documentary but biased in that it focuses on finding out the meaning of something. Thus the documentary is not an accurate portrayal of the entire South but of sub-cultures to the South. Another good look at more Eastern Florida is "Vernon, FL," showing a different sub-culture well. The other review comment's enough and is accurate but to note it is hard for any one documentary or film to capture what the South is considering how regional and place specific traditions, religions, and lifestyles are, so don't take the film as "truth" creating a stereotype. A lot of behavior examined in this documentary comes from, in my opinion, boredom, difficult financial conditions, and the heat and humidity. Not a rather atypical result of these either I might add. Anybody staying anytime in any of these places will soon experience emotions contributing to this behavior and cultural identity. Other than that, it is worth watching if you are at all interested in documentaries, aspects of southern culture, or are just interested in people.

every once in a while in life you get the chance to glance at real greatness. last night i had just such an opportunity. in came in the form of a great movie. i discovered this film almost by accident as i was paging through the monthly programming guide of my local art house theater, when i stumbled upon one of the oddest titles i had ever seen. the title of course was 'searching for the wrong-eyed Jesus.' the title enough seemed like a good reason to see this film, but as i read the short synopsis, i became way more interested in seeing it. so the next day i called a good buddy and we headed downtown.needless to say this was more then worth the trip through the torrential downpour we had to fight. the film is a documentary that follows a singer named Jim white as he travels through America's south in an attempt to discover the beauty that is so often overlooked. he accomplishes this task through an assortment of visits to Churches, prisons, barber shops, and roadside bars. he uncovers a small treasure of musical genius as he makes his way across Alabama, and Mississippi. he also reveals an inspiring, if a times disturbing faith that is held tightly by a people so close to complete physical, and emotional devastation that it makes you wonder why they bother at all. it was eye opening to see a world geographically not that far from the one i grew up in, yet ideologically, and sociologically as far as another planet. a world where poverty is so expected and anticipated, that faith in God is mandatory, if only because there is nothing else to have faith in.the cinematography was also unlike anything else i had ever seen. from the first fade into the opening scene i could tell this was going to be something special, and i was right. when it was over i found myself disappointed that it couldn't go on longer for the same reason one is implored to keep staring a breathtaking painting, an amazing photograph, or a beautiful woman.i would encourage everyone to see a movie like this if only to broaden your aesthetic palette. but be warned, too many films like this, and every other movie you see just won't stack up.