HARLEY(LEFT) IN RICH HILL

The village that isn't there

Good access is the first key to the success of this sweet, sad film Tragos and Palermo made focusing on three boys and their families in the eponymous Rich Hill, Missouri, population 1,300-something coal mining town whose coal ran out just after WWII. The two filmmakers (Andrew also the dp and a talented one) had parents who all grew up in Rich Hill, their grandmother a schoolteacher and grandfather grocer and mail carrier. They were greeted warmly and their money-shy subjects were happy for the attention. They settled eventually on three teenage boys in three different families, Appachey, 13, Harley, 15. and Andrew, 14. In this labor of love and humanism 450 hours where whittled down to a sharp 91 minutes, enhanced by careful choice, Palermo's beautiful images, and composer Nathan Halpern's uplifting, spiritual score.

Appachey and Harley both have anger issues, Appachey more disfunctional, Harley mad for good reason, but holding on. Appachey, who smokes and swears a lot, like his mom, likes skateboards, is artistic, and dreams of moving to China, because the art there is awesome, and he could spend all day painting dragons. Harley lives with his grandmother -- his mom, whom he warmly supports with weekly phone calls, is in prison for attempted murder. It emerges that she was defending her boy, who was being sexually abused by his stepfather. Andrew is a handsome boy, eye candy for the girls, and all sweetness, no negative word ever coming from his mouth, and much love in his family. He is devout, and believes God is "busy with everybody else," when his family never has any money. None of these boys does nor do their parents.

Harley also has times of humor, spirit, and great hope, but he can't seem to sit through school, and his constant departures from class lead to his being in trouble with local authorities. Something similar happens to Appachey, because his unruliness lead to his being in juvenile court. His mother loves him -- they cuddle and giggle outside the courtroom like a mom and her baby -- but she can't handle him. In both cases, these are problems that a well-off family or a community with better social services might resolve with counseling and proper medications.

Andrew's case is different. His father, Willie, is a dreamer and a would-be singer and a bit of a drifter. He doesn't want a steady job, odd jobs aren't enough, they can't pay the rent, so they keep moving to another town, then back to Rich Hill. They've moved so often "it's a joke," Andrew says. Probably Andrew is learning strategies for finding quick acceptance in different schools, because he lifts weights and gets onto the middle school football team even arriving mid-season. Later he, his disabled mom, his dad, and his sister wind up back in Rich Hill living with a bunch of relatives, twelve people, even though they haven't money either.

All three boys address the camera sometimes, even though it's otherwise quietly observational. What we don't get is much background on relatives or what they do (except what Willie doesn't do), or how many of the rest of the town's inhabitants are this poor, and if any are rich, and if so, how.

Palermo has said his lesson from this project is that you can't pull yourself up by your own bootstraps: "No one can do it on their own. We all need help." It takes a village, and the village isn't there. Palermo loves the soft beauties of his native Missouri and weaves in some dreamlike images ironic for their beauty. One is of Halloween, when Harley gets his face made up and goes trick-or-treating with two other boys. Another is the Fourth of July, when Rich Hill puts on a show of hope and glory. A carnival comes and a pie auction is held to pay for the fireworks. The price paid for a pie is spectacular, and so are the lights in the sky. Sometimes the boys are starry-eyed: Andrew, at least, has the heart to dream of the day when God will remember him. It is by no means sure that this day will ever come. We’re not trash, we’re good people, Andrew asserts early in Rich Hill, and it's certainly true of him, but it's not sure that goodness will be rewarded, not in the near future, anyway. Beauties are ever-present, yet mostly out of reach in the drab quotidian of these three boys' worlds that reflect the punishing toll taken on the needy by the great recession.

For more stills from the film go to http://www.richhillfilm.com/#media.

Rich Hill, 91 mins., debuted at Sundance January 2014, winning the US Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize there. It begins limited US release 1 August, rolling out to 50 cities and on VOD 5 August. At Roxie Theater, San Francisco, Lankmark Shattuck Cinemas, Berkeley 22 August 2014.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.