Darwin – les naufragés du desert

Network : France Ô
Type : Documentary
Format : 52′
Directed by : Anne Verdaguer

Summary :

Darwin, California, population 33. Upon entering the town, a sign reads: ‘No services ahead’.

At the end of a dead-end road, you enter here as if in a Wild West setting, under a blazing sun on the edge of an endless desert: Death Valley. In the village, the few dirt streets are empty. Old wooden shacks, mobile homes and abandoned cars line the road. Time seems to have stood still.

Darwin is a former mining town where 3,500 people lived during the heyday of mining at the beginning of the 20th century. But the inhabitants have deserted, and there are no shops, town halls, churches or schools left. No police, either. Yet around thirty people live here. By choice, to escape a life that’s too regulated, and a society that’s too hostile. But also, to escape the law or to get away from a past that is too heavy.