This documentary is like a train wreck...it's awful, it's ugly...but you can't stop watching. It really is mesmerizing....and I've never seen anything like it and it's sad that it's apparently true and the people in the film are so happy, proud and open about their completely sick and crazy lives. The movie follows the White family in West Virginia, an extended family that is about as trashy and worthless as any in the world...and a wonderful argument for retroactive euthanasia. I know that's horrible to say that, but watching this inter-generational family on their BEST behavior on camera is like the very, very worst families on "The Jerry Springer Show"---on crack. The White family's prison records, drug use, violence and ignorance is overwhelming to watch--it's just hard to imagine a clan like this being proud of themselves--and I could imagine this film being shown in various countries where they hate Americans so they could 'prove' how evil and decadent we really are!
While the film is awful to watch, it has several qualities that I would consider important to a truly excellent documentary. First, the narration is minimal and lets the subjects themselves just talk...and talk...and talk. Second, the subjects are allowed to do or say whatever they want....and this seeming lack of direction is what makes it so compelling. Sad, sick and provocative...this is one to see.
By the way, my timing for watching this film was amazing. I'd just watched "Idiocracy"--a film that warns us that this sort of family IS our future--especially as the ignorance and irresponsible seem to breed at a VERY high rate. Sad...very, very sad.
While the film is awful to watch, it has several qualities that I would consider important to a truly excellent documentary. First, the narration is minimal and lets the subjects themselves just talk...and talk...and talk. Second, the subjects are allowed to do or say whatever they want....and this seeming lack of direction is what makes it so compelling. Sad, sick and provocative...this is one to see.
By the way, my timing for watching this film was amazing. I'd just watched "Idiocracy"--a film that warns us that this sort of family IS our future--especially as the ignorance and irresponsible seem to breed at a VERY high rate. Sad...very, very sad.