Hillbillies! When you think about it, they truly are Nature's clowns. In fact, hillbillies and clowns often cause the same reactions in people. There are people in this world--and I realize that this is probably gonna sound crazy--that love and receive great pleasure from clowns and their clowny antics. Conversely, there are people who are terrified of clowns and every evil thing they stand for. The same goes for hillbillies. Some are endlessly entertained by their anti-social behavior, their "I-ain't-never-gived-a-fuck-and-I-never-will" attitude, their casual drug use, and their easygoing willingness to blast at their kin with loaded shotguns. Others, like myself, are terrified of hill-people, and for, I think, good reason.To be fair, everything I know and believe about hillbillies has come from movies. I know they have a fondness for moonshine, meth-cooking, and butt rape. Some of them--maybe the majority of them, I don't know--are hulking mutant freaks who survive on the flesh of their fellow human beings. I also know there are a few good ones. Dolly Parton for instance. For the most part though, hillbillies, at least to me, are nothing more than inbred, cannibalistic, trigger-happy, rape-loving sicko pervert monsters.
Julien Nitzberg's Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia does very little to dispel this awful viewpoint of mine. Sure, the Whites don't murder and eat lost hikers, but they openly ingest prescription drugs by the pound and proudly recall their violent, gun-shooting exploits to whoever is willing to shove a camera in their faces and listen.
Listen, I don't have a problem with hillbillies. Regular readers will know that the preceding paragraphs were (mostly) exaggerated for comic effect. Hillbillies do concern me, but I don't think they're all just sitting around on their porches waiting for Ned Beatty to happen by. In fact, some hillbillies can be downright charming. Take Jesco White for instance. You might remember him from the 1991 documentary Dancing Outlaw. I saw Outlaw in high school and fell hard for Jesco. He was the kind of character a high school kid like me could really go for. He was a rebel; an affable anti-hero; a troublemaker; a true original who didn't give half-a-shit what anybody thought about him. And he danced like an angel.
Listen, I don't have a problem with hillbillies. Regular readers will know that the preceding paragraphs were (mostly) exaggerated for comic effect. Hillbillies do concern me, but I don't think they're all just sitting around on their porches waiting for Ned Beatty to happen by. In fact, some hillbillies can be downright charming. Take Jesco White for instance. You might remember him from the 1991 documentary Dancing Outlaw. I saw Outlaw in high school and fell hard for Jesco. He was the kind of character a high school kid like me could really go for. He was a rebel; an affable anti-hero; a troublemaker; a true original who didn't give half-a-shit what anybody thought about him. And he danced like an angel.Wild and Wonderful Whites catches up with Jesco, still dancing, drinking, swearing, and smoking. Sure, he's got a couple more holes in his brain thanks to the large amounts of narcotics he abuses, and, OK, he is severely bipolar and probably a danger to both himself and the community at large, but he's still as likable as ever. There's a reason Jesco became a minor celebrity after Dancing Outlaw aired. There is no reason, however, to give his extended family a platform on which to express themselves.
I don't know what The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is supposed to be. The Whites are pretty terrible people. I mean, God love 'em for doing their thing, but unfortunately I don't find "their thing" terribly interesting or doc-worthy. Most of what is "funny" here isn't really funny as much as it is completely and utterly horrific. Drug abuse, face-shooting, and welfare fraud just isn't my idea of a hilarious good time.The film wisely focuses much of its running time on the story of Kirk White, Jesco's niece, who gave birth during the filming and had her baby taken away by the state. We watch Kirk brag about stabbing her ex, snort drugs in her hospital room as her newborn daughter sleeps, reconnect with her ex-husband and her high school sweetheart, and finally enter drug rehab to get her baby back. This adds pathos to a film that, without it, would have been nothing but wall-to-wall drunken boastful rednecks shouting bullshit for 88 minutes straight.
Still there are a few things that amused me:
-Jesco's nephew, Brandon Poe, explaining to the filmmakers that he will probably receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist for blowing his stepfather's face off and engaging in a stand-off with Boone County police. (He receives 50 years in prison. Duh.)
-Jesco's sister, Sue Bob, explaining in her whiskey and cigarette-ravaged voice, "I've always been the sexy one."
-Kirk saying good-bye to her son Tylor, who is wearing a skeleton mask, outside of the rehab center.
-Tylor, in general, who threatens his mother's ex, Dennis, with physical violence almost every time he appears on screen.
GEP says: SKIP IT!
