In Appalachia, West Virginia generations of individuals know nothing but coal mining. Their parents were miners, and their parents before them–and it seems like this cycle will continue on forever. King Coal tells the story of generations of miners. It allows them the chance to have a voice, and for the world to understand the intricacies and the dangers of the profession.
King Coal is a documentary about coal mining, and, if we are being honest, the profession isn’t all that interesting (unless, of course, you come from generations of it). I sat down to watch this documentary with the expectation that it would slowly but surely drag us through all the things we didn’t know about the field–and that’s exactly what it did. King Coal could have easily been thirty minutes or less and still have covered just about everything it did in its feature-length form. The film felt small honestly, and that’s because it never veers from the same few points. Having only a few talking points should have allowed Director Elaine McMillion Sheldon the ability to create a short film–but she takes it too far, and, again, King Coal pulls us very slowly through this story.
If I’m being honest, and I don’t think this is a surprise after what you just read, the content of King Coal doesn’t appeal to me much. I honestly wasn’t incredibly interested in what the interviewees had to say, and I want to be clear–that’s not a shot at them whatsoever, they honestly seem like lovely people. The character of the individuals showcased throughout King Coal is what attracted me to the film, what kept me engaged throughout. In a world that I feel has been so divisive as of late, King Coal presents the world with the story of a close-knit community, one where it seems that everyone knows everyone, and no request is too big. This is a group of people that care about one another and their community as a whole–and they are willing to do what it takes to make sure everyone is happy and healthy. King Coal desperately needed a pull like this, something that would appeal to viewers’ emotions–and Sheldon finds it in the people.
I commend Sheldon for being able to do something so simple, even if it wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea. King Coal is such a juxtaposition to the world in which we live. As I mentioned above, there’s a sense of community and inclusion that you don’t always feel like exists here anymore–but furthermore, this feels like a documentary that was made just to shed light on such a unique group of people. Nothing about King Coal is click bait, it never tries to lie about what it is or what it does, and it’s just good, honest journalism and filmmaking. I think that Sheldon understands that not every story has to be groundbreaking, that not every story has to be massive–but sometimes there are stories that deserve to be told, and this is one of them. This passion can be felt throughout the course of King Coal, and as it permeates the documentary it’s likely to permeate audiences as well.
I seem to be sitting right on the fence about how I personally felt about King Coal. Do I believe the film is groundbreaking, or that it’s something everyone in the world needs to see? No. However, it feels like a piece of filmmaking that doesn’t always exist anymore–that films like this are few and far between, and I genuinely appreciate that about what Sheldon creates with King Coal. It’s a story of the people, and while the film likely won’t appeal to everyone, I think this is the raw form of journalism and filmmaking that the world needs.
Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon.
Written by Shane Boris, Heather Hannah, Logan Hill, Iva Radivojevic, & Elaine McMillion Sheldon.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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