American Hollow

If Rory Kennedy meant her documentary, "American Hollow," to show us a poor Southern rural white family as something more respectable than the disparaging hillbilly stereotype, she failed.

Not only were those familiar stereotypes not dispelled in this film, they were played out before us.

The film offers us snaggletoothed, alcoholic louts given to ridiculing their wives and kids. We see amazingly good-humored, unprotesting womenfolk who do all the work of keeping the family together and fed, with little help from the men.

The chronically unemployed men in the Bowling family simply won't leave to find work and a better life outside the hollow in their part of Kentucky where there are few job prospects.

Worse, they actively encourage failure in the "young'uns" as well.

I suspect we're supposed to believe that the Bowlings are nevertheless noble because they have deep roots on the land they've been unemployed, impoverished, and uneducated on for generations.

My grandparents came across the Atlantic to America because they couldn't make a living in the old country. I think that's far more courageous (and American) than staying in a lousy situation with no hope.

Poor rural black folks have to contend with racial discrimination when they go to the city for job opportunities. By contrast, the Bowling men, most of them blond, wouldn't have that hurdle to jump. But no, they stay resolutely mired in their hollow.

I'm a pretty soft-hearted person, but I lost my respect for the Bowling men in the first ten minutes of the film.

However, even if most of the subjects of this documentary aren't appealing, the film itself is well-made. I did learn one thing from "American Hollow" -- that love-sick teenage boys and the sweet young things who lead them on are the same the world over.

I lived in Pound Virginia for 4 years, and was married to a coal miners daughter for twenty years. I found the scenes in this Documentary to be not only an accurate reflection of the people I met there, but also typical of the people I met there. I was not raised there so as an outsider to the culture there perhaps my opinion is more unbiased. My wife was actually related to the Bowling family. There are a lot of them up there. I honor the people of the Appalacian. They are a culture unto themselves. There is nothing like them anywhere in the USA, or the world for that matter. You must live there to experience what I'm talking about. They are hard working, honest sensitive people with a strong family ethic, but with very few options. I also saw a lot of the family dysfunction depicted in the documentary caused by the extreme poverty there. I was fortunate to live there during the short burst of prosperity brought on by the first energy crisis in the late 70's, but the preceding years of poverty were still evident. Now with the energy crisis over, and technology taking over the coal mines things are worse there than ever.

As someone who grew up in the deep south, and had to leave it as an adult for the purpose of economic survival and the avoidance of poverty, I can deeply relate to this family.

The interesting thing about them is that they complain about their impoverished condition, yet when the 18 year-old boy want to move to Ohio to pursue a better life, the family sabotages his efforts with discouraging words such as "a bad check always returns."

Having come from such a family that also tried to sabotage my efforts to gain self-respect through work and better economic opportunities, this all rang true for me. Especially coming from a southern culture where ties to the land are strong and very few people actually summon up the guts to move to "the big city," where the inevitable hardships and culture shock await.

A very accurate and moving portrait of a southern family, obviously one which cares about each other, but one which seems to wallow in it's own dysfunction and lack of ambition. I kept wanting to say to them, but you could have a better life, if only you'd get up off your caboose and go out into the big, bad world and show some gumption and make something of yourself. That kind of attitude seems to be common in families which have grown up in a rural environment. I know, because I met many people like that in Arkansas, where I was raised.

Absolutely one of the best films this year. Compelling, well-shot doc about a big family living in a Kentucky ravine. The film shows wife abuse in such a sad way that it strikes the heart. But it also shows the pride of living off the land, particularly through the work of an elderly woman. Tragic and incredible.

I lived in Eastern Kentucky for the first 11 years of my life, and visit there pretty often. I have seen these living conditions first hand. I must say, however, that this is not the norm. Most people in Eastern Kentucky do not live this way. At least not in a material sense. Most people in Eastern Kentucky, the Bowling family included, do share one common trait; strong ties to the family. People seem to only see that these people have no running water, and live in isolation in a "holler," but what people don't often recognize is how present the extended family is throughout this movie, and most likely throughout the entire lives of these people. How many of us can say we could walk to our grandparents house? Personally, I think that would be pretty nice. People don't see what's right though, they see what's wrong. Historically, people love to criticize others who aren't as wealthy and educated as themselves, and this family seems to be socio-economically "below" most of us. That makes it very easy for most of us to call these people a "waste of taxdollars," and to say that they could find jobs if they really wanted to. The simple fact of the matter is that there are no jobs. I know, I've been there. We moved for that very reason. You may be asking yourself right now why they can't move as well. Imagine yourself for a moment with no money whatsoever, and no way to get ahead in life. You can't very well sell your existing house to buy another, (remember, their combined property value wasn't enough to pay the bond for the release of one of the brothers from jail) and you can't move somewhere else without a house to move into. Before being critical of these people (as most are), ask yourself this question. What would I do if I had no money, no education, no transportation and no job? The first thing to do is get a job, right? But wait, I have no education or transportation. Ok, I'll get an education first. Wait, I have no transportation or money. Ok. I'll get transportation. But I need money for that. I'll save money and get a car. Can't do that, because I have no job... It's a vicious cycle. The only way to break that cycle is to start teaching the children that there is a better life, and show them how to get there. Most adults in Eastern Kentucky understand this. The old saying is that they need to teach the 3 R's in school: Reading, Writing and Route 23. And yes, we know that "writing" doesn't start with an "R." It may take a few precious tax dollars for the government to send these kids to college, but I think we can all see that it is worth it.