The Detroit River - From the Great Lakes to the great Bust

The Detroit River is part of the Great Lakes, the five large contiguous lakes in the northeastern United States, and forms the national border with Canada. In the middle of the river lies the jewel of Detroit: Belle Isle. As commerce and the auto industry grew on the river, Detroit became the richest city in the U.S. in the 1960s. Once, the Detroit River was the last hurdle for many slaves from the southern states to escape to the night bar country of Canada, where slavery had been banned since 1834. During Prohibition, the river played a major role in smuggling alcohol into the USA. Today, Detroit is marked by the decline of the auto industry. But the city, which was declared economically dead, is experiencing a surprising revival on the banks of its river. Rivers connect people. They are lifelines, economic drivers, traffic routes. Man has tamed them over the centuries, straightening, channelizing and regulating them. Probably in no country as extreme as in the USA, long the land of unlimited opportunity. Here we have the largest dams, the deepest locks, the longest canals and aqueducts. Rivers flow backwards or are directed by computers into an artificial riverbed. Rivers gave their names to world-famous cities, from Miami to Detroit or Los Angeles. But hardly anyone today knows the rivers that flow into them. And the American dream of man's victory over nature is revealing itself more and more as an illusion. In her five-part series, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Katja Esson tells unusual river stories of the Colorado River, the Miami River, the Los Angeles River, the Chicago River and the Detroit River. With surprising images and from surprising angles. On her journey, she meets a wide variety of people who, with charm and great openness, tell of how the river shapes their lives.