The latest documentary from Elaine McMillion Sheldon — a filmmaker with deep coal-mining roots — draws viewers in with “elements of fable and magical realism.”
Communities dependent on the coal industry have, for decades, been the subject of political debate — used by the right as examples of a blue-collar American way of life in need of rejuvenation, and by the left as victims of exploitation by villainous companies putting profits about people and the environment. Then there are the labor movements that draw inspiration from the violent conflicts between once-poor, struggling miners and strikebreakers hired to quell any ideas about fair wages and safe working conditions…