Banished is an enlightening look a set of now-100% white American communities that, during the Jim Crow era, forcibly removed African American landowners and stole their property. Marco Williams documents several cases of this ethnic cleansing, intrepidly exploring some unexpected ambiguities. One of the wronged descendants, for example, loses our sympathy when he tries to avoid paying for the exhumation of a grave (bottom still). A lush soundtrack features the great saxophonist David Murray.
