KING COAL – SLIFF Review

KING COAL is a hauntingly-beautiful, poetic documentary that immerses us in the stunning wilderness of Appalachia and opens a gateway to into the oft-misunderstood culture of the people who live in and love that natural world, along with their complex love-hate relationship with coal. The award-winning KING COAL is one of the free screenings at the St. Louis International Film Festival, and one the year’s best documentary films.

The title KING COAL is a bit misleading, as this haunting documentary is really a meditative, exquisitely lyrical cinematic celebration of the uniquely American culture and people of Appalachia. Because they are from Appalachia, director/writer Elaine Million Sheldon and cinematographer Curran Sheldon the husband and wife team behind this film, give us remarkable access into understanding the people and folkways that are among the most deeply rooted in this country, and their complicated relationship with an extractive industry of their natural resources that has brought both economic benefit and devastating human and environmental costs. In short, “King Coal.”

Like the subjects of a medieval king, the people of Appalachia have complicated and fraught feelings about coal. The industry has been a bringer of jobs, of economic life in a mountain landscape that is beautiful but where farming is a hard-scrabble life. But that economic benefit has come at a high cost in human life, from mine collapses to the black-lung, and in the destruction of the very mountain landscape they love.

In an immersive, lyrical mix of personal memoir and documentary, director Elaine McMillion Sheldon narrates this portrait of Appalachian life and culture, and the people’s relationship to coal.

Stunningly beautiful imagery suffuses this film, wrapping us in the wild, dreamy natural beauty of the Appalachian mountains, valleys and waterways where generations have lived, but it also shows us images of traditional celebrations and folkways. On the other hand, there are events that illustrate the pervasive presence of coal, such as community events commemorating lives lost in the mines or an annual race where participants, even children, are sprinkled with coal dust to remind them of the “king.”

The documentary is meditative, inviting us to look closely and to contemplate both the natural beauty and the culture those mountains embrace. The gorgeous, sweeping, often-aerial photography of that natural world is breathtaking and hypnotic.

Yet, KING COAL does not shy away from the costs that coal has extracted from the landscape and the people of Appalachia but by presenting those costs from an insider’s view, thanks to the filmmakers deep connections to the place, it gives us deep insights into the complicated perspective of the people most affected.

Overall, KING COAL is a remarkable immersive documentary that offers a gateway into an oft-misunderstood culture deeply-rooted in a stunning natural world, and how both have been both shaped, for good or ill, by coal.

KING COAL will be shown free as part of the 2023 St. Louis International Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 4pm at Washington University’s Brown Auditorium.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars