American Hollow

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.

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.

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.

I'd first like to say that I felt "American Hollow" was an excellent documentary. The main reason for this comment is to clarify some things about the film. Many people have problems because they felt the film did nothing to dispel stereotypes, and also that it added to the list of films only showing the poorest regions of Appalachia. Rory Kennedy's film was not meant to be a representation of Appalachia. She picked the Bowlings because she wanted to originally make a "poverty advocacy film". She was later so impressed by the strong character of Iree that she decided to focus on the family itself. I don't think Rory could have done anything about stereotypes. She didn't script this and hire actors. This was this family's real life. It may have perpetuated the "slack jawed yokel" stereotype, but hopefully in watching it you can relate to the family beyond the stereotypes.

As someone else mentioned, it's very important to realize that this family (especially Iree and Bass) is not lazy. In a meeting Rory Kennedy mentioned that two family members had recently gotten jobs that they had to commute 1 1/2 hours to get to everyday. It's obvious that if there were jobs available, they would have taken them gladly. Why don't they just move? This question shows that you don't really understand the situation. The film clearly pointed out that almost all of the members of the family had tried this and failed. Besides that, the film also shows that family is more important to them than monetary stability. This is a lesson we can all learn from.

BTW, Rory also mentioned that because of the film, Clint started to receive "propositions" from around the country. One lady sent him a plane ticket, but he was too afraid to get on the plane. She then sent him a bus ticket and he moved out to CA and they are "madly in love" and getting married!

I have witnessed first-hand much of the family dynamics that is portrayed in this documentary, and it is sad that people are so poor. What has never failed to astound me however, is the pride and ignorance that keeps these poor people from leaving the area or progressing. Amazingly, when they do leave, they keep coming back. This film not only shares the pitiful life style of America's poor, but also captures the deep level pridefulness of those unwilling to progress and change their lives they are so discontented with. This attitude surely is ignorance and fear which is far more disturbing than poverty.