''Rodents of Unusual Size'' is a 2017

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

funded by

ITVS ITVS (Independent Television Service) is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly ...

and directed by the team of Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler and

Jeff Springer Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

about giant invasive swamp rats,

nutria The nutria () or coypu () (''Myocastor coypus'') is a herbivore, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent from South America. Classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, ''Myocastor'' has since been included within Echimy ...

, threatening coastal

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. The film is narrated by

Wendell Pierce Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1962) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor of stage and screen. He first Breakthrough role, gained recognition portraying ...

with an all original musical soundtrack by the Cajun band Lost Bayou Ramblers. This feature-length film premiered during the 2017 version of the all documentary film festival

DOC NYC Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...

, on 15 November 2017. The film was released by Grasshopper Film and broadcast on the PBS TV series

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrenc ...

on 14 January 2019.

Synopsis

residents south of

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

have faced many an environmental threat, from oil spills to devastating hurricanes, but a growing problem are an invasive species known as

or colloquially called swamp rats in the region. This invasive species from South America is accelerating erosion of the state's coastal wetlands, already one of the largest disappearing landmasses in the world. The film covers the people (trappers, chefs, fashion designers, exotic pet enthusiasts) who have lived in the area for generations and are fighting back in creative ways. The film winds up being a joyful take on an ecological menace while revealing, in equal parts, human beings' impact on the environment and the local communities' surprising solutions to save their land before it disappears. Through the offbeat and unexpected stories of the people confronting the nutria problem, ''Rodents of Unusual Size'' examines issues surrounding

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

, the devastation surrounding hurricanes, loss of culture and homeland, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodents of Unusual Size American documentary films Documentary films about Louisiana Documentary films about United States history 2017 documentary films 2017 films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films Oceanside International Film Festival award-winning films