Bright Leaves is a 2003 documentary written and directed by Ross McElwee. This documentary is an eclectic and often surreal exploration of family, history, contemporary politics, and the legacy of tobacco in North Carolina. Using his unique style of comedic presentation McElwee delves deep into the attraction of cigarettes, and the moral implications of their addiction qualities. McElwee himself has a personal connection with his tobacco industry. His great-grandfather created the famous tobacco brand Bull Durham. Using his own family's rise and fall as tobacco magnets, Ross McElwee takes the viewer on a journey across the states' complex social, economic and psychological relationship with the plant. McElwee uses a multitude of interviews to careful portray a full view of the impact of tobacco. The viewer is given access to farmers, businessmen, anti-tobacco activist and the addicted. As much as it is a history of politics and society, Bright Leaves is an autobiographical meditation of a family's deep connection with a troubling industry.moreless