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By Glenn Charlie Dunks
Raoul Peck has proven himself several times over to be one of the great workers of non-fiction today. Whether its biography or history lesson, he applies a deeply clinical look at his chosen subjects without the tar of stale formula or compromised intent. In the Haiti-born filmmakers latest work, he has taken a ProPublica article by Lizzie Presser, “Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It”—a title too long for a film, but which tells you exactly what is at the heart of its story.
For Peck, Silver Dollar Road is actually part biography and part history lesson, taking in a large family tree and the forces that came together to break their connection to the place they’ve known as home since emancipation.
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