Barge (2015)

Dry land's misfits find purpose and direction twenty-eight days at a time as the steady hands of a towboat due for the port of New Orleans. From a green deckhand following his father and ... See full summary »

Director:

Ben Powell

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Storyline

Dry land's misfits find purpose and direction twenty-eight days at a time as the steady hands of a towboat due for the port of New Orleans. From a green deckhand following his father and grandmother into the family business, to a former convict working his way to First Mate, job by job - as long as the boat's moving, they're making money.

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Genres:

Documentary | Adventure

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 March 2015 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Night Rain
Written by Billy Martin
Performed by Billy Martin

User Reviews

Demanding Job And Documentary

Documentary of the barge men of the Mississippi river. A seemingly bleak and somber job leads to this rather bleak and somber documentary. It's interesting enough, but despite the fact that it can pay up to 6 figures, they do not make this look like a job one would want.

28 days on-board and 14 days off. Shifts of 6 hours on, 6 hours off virtually guarantee that no one gets a full night's sleep for almost a month at a time. Repetitive, mindless labor punctuated by periods of boredom, and the possibility that you may be aboard, and in close quarters with, people you don't particularly like.

It doesn't require a college degree, but I'd say it would take a man with patience aplenty to do this work. While watching this, I kept thinking it was like watching a documentary about a chain gang. It may be very interesting, but it's not going to be fun.