this doc destroyed me... it's not often that you get a documentary that not only informs you, but gives you all the emotions before it's through. the first thing you notice about this is the music. while living among the local people in brookside, kentucky, the filmmakers not only hear their stories, but hear their songs as well. some of them are traditionals, but most are written and performed by the local people themselves, and speak to their difficulties in mining town life. it's honestly not music i'd listen to in my leisure time, but it's very affecting for the film, and great to show these people as not only poor victims of the mining outfit, but as having talent and spirit besides. it's inherently a political film, and i suppose what it says about politics depends on your point of view. you could look at it as showing the evils of capitalism, when you have a bureaucracy diffusing responsibility and all these higher-ups in the mining industry saying "we want to do the right thing" and "the safety of the miners is our priority" but just providing them with indentured slavery conditions. on the other hand, you could look at it as the success of democracy, because with backbone and cooperation of a union, and busting gender norms and putting aside petty differences, a group came together and made the elite give them something better. or on the other other hand, you could look at it as an indictment of our entire system in the us. either willingly or through coercion, the politicians, ceos, governing bodies, medical system, union leaders, law enforcement officers, and scabs all work together to break the people of the local community and ensure that they not be treated fairly and over 20x more of the profits go to the few at the top rather than the majority actually doing the work. these companies like duke power are an absolute disgrace. this can be a frustrating film to watch, one that just makes you hurt at seeing good people struggle. it doesn't show the death of the american dream, it shows that it's a lie in the first place! you don't get ahead by working hard, you get ahead by forcing some other suckers to work hard in your place! and if they complain too much or try to fight back, you flat out kill them. the deaths in this film are the most shocking aspect obviously, and something i wish all the miners complaining these days would remember. while populists like trump lie and say they'll look out for the miners, this film shows he's just perpetuating a cycle of abuse that's been occurring for decades. as one young man in the film states: 'they make sure the community goes along with it by keeping all other jobs out. so people think they've just got to keep mining and take what they're given, because there are no other choices.' it's a message that is sadly just as relevant to these communities today as it was 40 years ago, but even more so because we have to face that coal as an industry has seen its day. this film should honestly be required viewing right up with other goat docs like the fog of war and food, inc. you often can't change people's minds with logic, as they just want to dig in and find excuses to fight facts. but you can't deny someone's personal experience, and the experiences captured here are worth a million words.