Deep Down

Broadcast on PBS's Independent Lens series, Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin's Deep Down offers an overview of how two lifelong friends in a small town in eastern Kentucky reacted when a well-financed coal company sought to purchase local land in order to strip-mine a mountaintop. For medical technician Beverly May, the coal company represents a blatant threat to the local ecosystem—she argues that the environmental costs created through mountaintop removal (MTR) far outweigh the financial benefits that the town might enjoy through the land sale. For furniture maker Terry Ratliff, the monetary gain to be made from the leasing of his land to the coal company is something of an answered prayer—after long periods of financial struggle, Ratliff might finally achieve the fiscal security that has long eluded him. While Deep Down is not lacking in dramatic undertones—the environmental story is mirrored by the extremely difficult lives of the town's working class population—the film unfolds in a strangely leisurely manner, with a number of sequences playing up “local color,” including a community square dance, and May's family Thanksgiving dinner. Still, the documentary successfully raises timely questions about the troubling issue of MTR. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)