billing-19 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.

runnaxc5 This movie shows the poor, underprivileged, yet close-knit and seemingly happy family that lives in Appalachia. There's another side to the movie that most people don't see. All throughout the movie almost every family is living primarily off of welfare....they get their medicine through welfare. Instead of getting up off of their butts and doing something (aside from the few that "collect moss from the woods and sell it to pet stores"), they are sitting around not doing a thing, and are draining the economy's tax money. Your money. This movie depicts the negative side of Welfare. Welfare was created to benefit those who worked hard but cannot sustain enough to properly keep their family business, etc. in good health. But this shows how welfare has negative effects as well: it encourages some to be lazy and solely live off of the countries welfare instead of trying to hold steady jobs.

bsmstewart Honestly, I don't know why anyone would consider this movie to be a documentary. Then again, I suppose that calling it such is just a convinient way to catalogue it as opposed to quibbling over it being a mockumentary instead.The movie mentions Hazard as being the closest town. Congratulations, that's where I've grown up. Believe it or not, there is actually an amount of economic prosperity there that people wouldn't believe. Why do I say that? Because Rory Kennedy goes to great lengths to make very sure that it is never seen and depict Eastern Kentucky as a Twilight Zone holdover from the 1890's, only with newer vehicles.In a movie meant to showcase the determination and the ability of a family to survive in extreme economic hardship, I simply wonder how hard Ms. Kennedy had to work to make sure that this was the most blatantly discriminatory piece of work that she could come up with. Granted, you had people that didn't work, but moving wasn't exactly an option. To give up a home that you have, in a place that you know to move somewhere but not have the funds to establish a home is always a good move, is it not? The accusations thrown around about Clint have also been amusing since Paris Hilton has proved to be far worse than Clint ever thought about being. I'd also like to point out that the locale was terribly convinient. The difficulty in getting jobs into Eastern Kentucky is due to these wonderful stereotypes and the fact that this film could have been done in ANY state in the nation doesn't deter anyone for an instant.I honestly, in good faith, cannot recommend this film. It is a textbook case of making sure that the footage fits what you want to depict. I do not care what Rory Kennedy has to say, this film is nothing more than a series of strung together scenes meant to make a family struggling to get by into another, stereotype-perpetuating joke. God save us from another elitist moviemaker.

rustwagon I thought it was a wonderful look in to the impoverished life of an eastern Kentucky family. Rory Kennedy does an exceptional job in showing the actual living conditions and routines of these folk on a daily basis. Many scenes in the film remind me of people I see every day in this area, as I live less than 100 miles from the area it was filmed. Many families in this area due to lack of employment and educational opportunities, live day to day as the "Bowling" family does in this film. Hopefully due to Ms. Kennedy's efforts in filming this the government can institute more help for the families of the eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia, and southern West Virginia families.