Bayou Blue

Bayou Blue is a balanced documentary that tells the story of a serial killer through the stories of the families and police, who take us to the places the killings happened. It’s not a sensational story, with the serial killer, Ronald Dominique, as the star of the movie. But his voice is heard throughout the movie through recordings of his statements. Crying during most. But getting calmer and colder as the film progresses.

We meet with the directors Alix Lambert and David McMahon at IDFA, the international documentary festival in Amsterdam. They explain Ronald Dominique didn’t want to talk to them. But the recordings of his statements give him an unique voice in the film.

“We could speculate on his motives and behavior, but it would kind of be disingenuous,” David says.

More important to the story is how there actually wasn’t a story. The country almost obsessed with serial killers, totally ignored the killings of Dominique. Why? It’s a complex and difficult question that runs throughout the documentary. Alix and David explain the Bayou Blue area is almost entirely ignored by the country. Even largely by Louisiana. “Even after the arrest of Dominique, the New York Times said ‘we’re not interested’,” David says. They qualified the serial killings as a regional news story.

What we get to see is a non-sensational story about a forgotten place. Alix and David purposely didn’t use the shocking images from the crime scenes, which they did have. But they take us to the dark, mostly abandoned places, while playing Dominique’s statements in the background. A refreshing and honest take on the genre, that leaves a lot to the imagination.