Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern

America’s family farmers are an endangered species, according to Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher’s Oscar-nominated, personal documentary, Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern, about Ma and Pa Jordan’s fierce fight to stave off the bad banker guys. In this reality-based Midwestern, the family auctions all but the land; the loan officer rides off into the sunset. Jordan narrates with quiet intensity — Aaron Copeland in a minor key — and the camera’s unflinching portrait of farmers in crises recalls the spirit of Walker Evans WPA photos. Not just a compelling heartland story but a transcendent meditation on loss and death as an inevitable part of life. A