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The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
2009 · Film · documentary · 86 min
Directed by Julien Nitzberg
Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine for MTV and Dickhouse Productions, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is a documentary about the renowned West Virginia outlaw Jesco White and his eccentric backwoods family. In addition to getting in trouble with the law, the Whites, who live deep within Appalachia, uphold a time-honored dancing style, even as they contend with poverty, drugs and other issues. Alternately humorous and sad, the movie is an unflinching look at life on the criminal margins of rural mountain culture.
3 positivefrom 3 commenters
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3 comments on Hacker News
I love documentaries, and these are my favourites. All very worth a watch.
- The Crash Reel
- McConkey
- Buck
- Apollo 11
- Carts of Darkness
- The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
- Samsara
- Baraka
- Brooklyn Castle
- Spellbound
- Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
- Crumb
- The Jinx
- The Art of Flight
- King of Kong
- Indie Game: The Movie
- Capturing the Friedmans
- OJ: Made in America
- The Barkley Marathons
- The Seven Five
- Murderball
- Unbranded
- Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee
- Big River Man
- Hoop Dreams
- Word Wars
- Free Solo
- Long Shot
- Meru
- Being Elmo
- All This Mayhem
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- The Cove
- Project Nim
- Alone in the Wilderness
- Behind the Curve
- The Dawn Wall
- Grizzly Man
- 13th
- Winnebago Man
- Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler
- Get Me Roger Stone
- Icarus
- 13th
- Koyaanisqatsi
- The Thin Blue Line
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Oklahoma City
- Virunga
- The Staircase
- Evil Genius
- Undefeated
- Betting on zero
It reminds me of this incredible HBO documentary from 2009 chronicling the daily life of a (pretty crazy) rural family called "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQBiXDNVeSA
For a great deal of people, a concept of "tradition" and close, emotional ties to family and heritage far outweighs any economic opportunities. Furthermore, I think a lot of these people secretly know that they just may not be that competitive in an urban job market and prefer to live a rural life. Many Americans view this as a fundamental part of their freedoms (of which I say the Constitution and government have never even tried to interfere... but that's another discussion) - freedom from others' will, freedom to do what you wish on your property whether it be to shoot intruders or to hunt on it, and to privacy.
My in-laws live in rural Appalachia in northeast Tennessee near still-operating snake handling churches and restaurants that probably wouldn't pass a health inspection in a city, and while none of this appeals to me, it's clear to me that nobody living there wants anything to do with city living in terms of personalities and life experiences. This kind of mentality towards life tends to lean conservative politically as well. Sure, people watch TV and see some of the things happening in cities, but if you watch the news you'd think that there's nothing good happening there.
For an idea of how some folks like this might live (most aren't like this honestly, manual labor and blue collar jobs with 2+ hour long commute jobs are common), check out the movie the Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. Some are on disability, some have inheritances that were squandered, some may etc. and the poor in rural areas may actually be better off than urban poor in many factors for quality of life. Subsistence farming is an option in rural areas, after all.