Detroit Wild City: reborn center or dying heart?
French filmmaker Florent Tillon’s 2010 documentary Detroit Wild City (Detroit ville sauvage) offers a poetic portrait of the dystopian ‘Motor City’ where ‘grass is growing in parking lots’ and building after building is crumbling apart. The film shows suffocating images of the Renaissance Center, one of the world’s largest office complexes and Ford’s failed attempt to revitalize the city center.
Luckily, the entire documentary is available (for free) on Mubi. We made a transcript and some film stills of the scenes dealing with the Renaissance Center, which is introduced by a nameless (?) expert who gives an instructive overview of the many architectural flaws that turned the complex of buildings into a fortress.
