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Writer/director David Novack examines the conflicting forces that have prompted a potentially explosive conflict between the coal industry and the residents of West Virginia who question the impact of extraction on their quiet way of life. Troubled by the emergence of a coal-based U.S. energy policy, West Virginia activists try their hardest to educate the public about the potentially destructive effect of mining for coal: not only would ground water be rendered toxic, but 1.4 million acres of mountains would be demolished as well. Now forced to do battle with a powerful government that seems to cater especially to industry, these determined activists will go to any lengths necessary in order to get their voices heard and preserve their traditional way of life.
Rating
NR
Director
David Novack
Studio
Docurama
Writer
Richard Hankin, David Novack
- Very eye-opening movie about what's really going on in the coal industry.Before this movie, I didn't know much about West Virginia. Now I do, but it's sad that the beauty and value of the Appalachians have been so defiled and reduced in the name of greed.You sure ain't gonna see this stuff on the evening news. It's documentaries like this that sadly is the only way the voices of the brave heroes in this movie get heard.Reply
- [Director] Novack has a dual focus: the U.S. consumption of coal, which accounts for just more than half the nation's energy, and 'mountaintop removal,' whereby companies, instead of actually mining, do a man-made Mount St. Helens.Reply
- Even considering its failings on a creative level, Burning the Future remains a film certainly worth seeing.Reply
- Makes its eloquent case with both compassion and collective rage, allowing the people of West Virginia to speak for themselves as they emerge natural born leaders against a looming threat to their very survival.Reply
- Powerful documentary about the struggle of West Virginians against strip-mining practices that has made their water undrinkable and threatened their health all in the name of "progress".Reply
- David Novack's documentary Burning the Future: Coal in America is as upsetting as it is informative.Reply
- Pic deeply entrenches itself in the landscape, conveying both the beauty and the ravagement of the Appalachians.Reply
- The title is enough to tell you that Novack on the side of a West Virginia community being decimated by mountaintop mining, but it's also the right side.Reply