“The advantage we have here is we know each other,” Rev. Dr. Sarah B. Linn of Creede Community Church says in “Creede USA,” not long after describing the town with a population of around 300 people as a microcosm of America in terms of its political affiliations. The mountain town where mining of silver used to be the predominant industry left a deeply conservative population that enjoyed the rural life, but as director Kahane Corn Cooperman finds in her disarming doc, the need to remain an active concern after younger generations began moving away led to an inspired bid to keep the town alive by putting all their resources into the Creede Repertory Theater, ideally attracting theater students in the summer who could put on shows that could generate revenue and lower the community’s median age by half. The plan worked beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations when students from Kansas University started a steady pipeline to the mountain town beginning in 1966, but it posed a culture clash when most were left-leaning, creating a dynamic where to be intolerant was to deny the town a crucial part of its identity.
Even if it weren’t being released into the most polarized political climate imaginable, “Creede USA” would be compulsory viewing when it captures something unique to America where the economic and cultural needs of any given region can lead to strange bedfellows. There’s no doubt that Cooperman got to know nearly everyone in Creede well over the three years she spent there, but the camera gravitates towards Britni and Lavour, a young mixed race couple from New Jersey who have headed west as so many before them have because of the promise of Creede Repertory Theatre where Britni is set to become the theater’s education director and Lavour looks forward to acting in its productions. They are welcomed with open arms as everyone in Creede seems to be, but Britni’s decision to join the school board as part of an effort to be more involved in the community immediately lets her see a different side of things when debate rages over whether teachers should be armed and adding a health curriculum that would include an acknowledgment of the LGBTQ+ community as part of sex ed. When some on the dais are more than happy to let their distaste for proper pronouns well known, it strongly indicates how they’ll vote on other matters.
Cooperman and editor Andrew Saunderson don’t let audiences feel too comfortable in their assumptions, however, as many people in Creede are introduced well before one can notice a “Hillary for Prison” bumper sticker on one of their walls and Linn’s earlier point about being a small town makes any outright dismissal impossible when everyone can’t help but interact with one another on a daily basis. “Creede USA” doesn’t suggest that these different factions have softened one another exactly — more change occurs within individual families where it really becomes impossible to ignore when a child declares themselves to be nonbinary or a son marries outside their race — but there is a level of compromise required to coexist that seems respected by all and it’s at odds with the all-or-nothing nature of the culture wars largely reflected in the mainstream. (It’s fascinating that a deal on the sex ed curriculum can’t be struck due to a state mandate to either accept the lesson plan in full or not at all, which makes plenty of sense until seeing it play out with outright rejection as the easiest option.)
Beyond the peace residents make with one another, Cooperman makes a strong case for why people continue to make a home in Creede despite any differences they may have with their neighbors when what they’ve built together is a genuinely special place that’s just fun to hang out in, even via proxy. Beautifully shot by cinematographers Jilann Spitzmiller and Graham Willoughby, the fresh air in the high altitude burgh permeates every frame and visits to the Creede Repertory Theater and the Mines & Memories General Store have a charm that only grows upon knowing how tough it must’ve been to preserve when watching how delicate a balance is struck every date in Creede. A welcome sign may tout Creede as the “Last Great Place,” but it offers a solid first place to start a slightly different dialogue about how to proceed as a country.
“Creede USA” does not yet have U.S. distribution.