Winter 1862. In the midst of the Civil War, the US Army sends a company of volunteer soldiers to the western territories, with the task of patrolling the unchartered borderlands. As their mission ultimately changes course, the meaning behind their engagement begins to elude them.

A 12 year old boy and his single mother live parallel lives. The boy spends his days alone while his mother works and goes out with her friends. The boy's solitude is both a source of freedom and a cause for grief. His explorations slowly bring to light the dark contrast between the rules of society and the laws of nature. And before long, the delicate balance of his inner world becomes shattered by unforeseen events.

Sara is a young girl raised in a family of goat farmers. her parents homeschool their twelve children, rigorously following the precepts of the Bible. Like her sisters, Sara is taught to be a devout woman, subservient to men while keeping her emotional and physical purity intact until marriage. Made with non-actors in their own surroundings, the film avoids commenting on religious mentoring or on the essence of community life in order to capture the intimacy of a society where home-schooling is just as natural as target-shooting in late pregnancy. The decision not to emphasize any particular characteristic allowed the director to create an exceptionally vivid portrait in an ascetic yet suggestive film that admirably avoids the traditional tools of dramatization usually applied to stories about adolescent girls or their environment. The director nevertheless succeeds in constructing a comprehensive and compelling portrait of unique individuals while it continues to focus on Sara’s quest for new paths in life.

Louisiana delves into a hidden humanity in which the abysses of modern-day American gape wide open. Living in a place that is invisible to the rest of the world, on the margins of society, on the border between illegality and anarchy, is a community which is suffering, trying to react to the threat of being forgotten by the institutions and having their very rights as citizens trampled over. Retired war veterans, uncommunicative teens, drug addicts looking for a way out of their addiction through love, former special forces soldiers still battling against the world, young women and mothers-to-be drifting through life, an older generation which has not yet lost the will to live.

2018 documentary film directed by Roberto Minervini