On Sunday I was lazing around the house, flipping through channels and I happened upon David Sutherland's documentary "Country Boys" on PBS. I've never seen a more true-to-life depiction of the realities of growing up impoverished in rural America (I was never as poor or as rural as some of these characters, but the parallels are there). I spent the larger part of the day watching the documentary unfold, and going through half a box of tissues crying. For anyone that was ever a member of the underclass, for anyone that ever lived in a town that seemed to have no opportunities, this documentary is one of those rare pieces of film that bleeds all over you, pulls you in, and leaves you changed. I don't often recommend films, but "Country Boys" is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
PBS "Country Boys"
- Thread starter Ariadne
- Start date
Ariadne
I happened across it too by flipping and was hooked.
I didn't realize it was a 6hr +/- documentary.
I tuned in when Cody was graduating and he told his parents that the school had named him "valevictorian".
When I hunt, I visit a lot of backwoods towns in Northeast Pa. and I can feel the hoplessness that the documentary portrays in the Pa. coal country landscape.
But somehow, that air of hoplessness doesn't bring about as much desperation as you would think.
Here is a link to the documentary.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/
Unfortunately, it looks like it is not airing again any time soon on WHYY ch. 12.
Scott
I happened across it too by flipping and was hooked.
I didn't realize it was a 6hr +/- documentary.
I tuned in when Cody was graduating and he told his parents that the school had named him "valevictorian".
When I hunt, I visit a lot of backwoods towns in Northeast Pa. and I can feel the hoplessness that the documentary portrays in the Pa. coal country landscape.
But somehow, that air of hoplessness doesn't bring about as much desperation as you would think.
Here is a link to the documentary.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/
Unfortunately, it looks like it is not airing again any time soon on WHYY ch. 12.
Scott
I tuned in just a bit before you did Scott. I wish I'd seen more of it. I know what you mean about the coal towns of NEPA. I grew up in that area and have been through many of them. Reminds me of the documentaries I've seen about poverty in Appalachia. When I lived in North Carolina, I lived a few miles down the road from Hoke County, the poorest county in the state. What surprises me the most is people who reach adulthood or middle age and claim to never have seen poverty, isolation, hopelessness. It's everywhere.
Gillian
Gillian