Rich Hill (DVD REVIEW)
Rich
Hill
DVD
Review by Kam Williams
Headline:
Life in Rust Belt Town Examined in Diminished American Dream
Documentary
Rich
Hill, Missouri is a ghost town on hard times. Located about 70 miles
south of Kansas City, the population of this once-thriving mining
metropolis has dwindled down to 1,393 since the last of the coal was
unearthed from the ground.
The
lack of a sufficient tax base to maintain the city’s infrastructure
is reflected in such urban blight as boarded up storefronts, potholed
roads, abandoned farms, and the corner pharmacy and company bank
reduced to rubble. Today, the remaining residents find themselves
stuck in a godforsaken no man’s land marked by social dysfunction
and high unemployment.
Nevertheless,
there is an undeniable optimism among young Andrew, Harley and
Appachey. These three boys are the subject of Rich Hill, a
heartbreaking expose chronicling Rich Hill’s new normal in terms of
the American Dream.
Co-directed
by Andrew Droz Palermo and Tracy Droz Tragos, the picture won the
2014 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in the Best
Documentary category. As the cousins’ camera follows the trio
around, you can’t help but notice the crumbling exoskeleton in the
background that looks almost post-apocalyptic. Could this really be
the good ole U.S. of A?
Meanwhile,
each kid has a quite compelling story to share. 13 year-old Andrew
worries about his family subsisting when not practicing the latest
dance steps with his sister. Appachey, 12, wants to teach art in
China when he grows up. But first, he has to repeat the 6th grade.
And 15 year-old Harley has a great sense of humor despite the fact
that he misses his convict mother imprisoned for the attempted murder
of the sick stepfather who’d molested him.
The
Rust Belt’s “New Normal” depicted as a desolate, depressed
dystopia dotted with street urchins a tad too naïve to appreciate
their dire life prospects.
Very
Good (3 stars)
Unrated
Running
time: 93 minutes
Distributor:
Passion River
DVD
Extras: None
To
see a trailer for Rich Hill, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHml65Du-Ug
To order
Rich Hill on DVD, visit:
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