BROWN: How did you avoid pitying the Bowlings? KENNEDY: There are some things that are really wonderful about their way of life. There are other things that are horrible about it. Obviously the social isolation, the fact that very basic needs go unmet. That’s something that I find unacceptable.
Your film offers none of the props we’re used to relying on with documentaries, particularly the voice-over that tells us what to think about what we are seeing. The reason I make documentaries in the first place is to try to provide a voice for people who otherwise are very marginalized. The way to do that is to not impose your views.
But you must have walked away with some insights into what is happening in Appalachia. I had originally gone down there to make a film about the changes in the welfare laws and how they were affecting people in rural communities. I left with a very different film and I think that had a lot to do with the [Bowling] family. At some point, I quit asking the leading questions and I allowed them to take us where they wanted to go.
Do you have a sense that Iree and her family will be able to continue their way of life? Not in terms of material things. They face very difficult times. But in terms of their family being able to roll with the punches, absolutely. Iree grew up in a house with 11 children in one bedroom. Her family didn’t have the money for shoes for her, so when it got cold, she couldn’t go outside, she couldn’t go to school. They didn’t have electricity or running water… I learned there are other ways to gauge prosperity. While Iree went to school through third grade, her grandchildren are graduating from high school. Prosperity can be gauged by how many of your children have homes near you, how many people come home for Christmas.
Clint, one of the young Bowlings, is angry that his family stayed in the hollow. There is an antsiness to get out, to experience the world. But what’s interesting about Iree and her children is that all of her children left. And they all returned. They tell Clint, “We’ve been there, we know what you’re feeling, but we’ve come back because the prospects out there aren’t so great. You’re going to work at a gas station, a McDonald’s, get minimum wage and it’s not going to cover your expenses. You’re not going to have this family support that’s here for you.”
Did your father’s work in Appalachia inspire you to make “American Hollow”? Certainly I had been very interested in the area because of how important it was to him. I wouldn’t presume to say that I was continuing his work there. My father was very struck by what he saw in Appalachia. He saw families that had eight children in one-room shacks where the water from outhouses spilled into the water they drank. Health care was nonexistent. His effect there has been felt on a number of levels, because of policies like the anti-poverty initiatives. There are so many people I met who had a story about meeting him and the effect he had on them. It was a very reflective time for him, after my uncle had been killed, and I think that it was a very important experience for him. I can’t tell you how many small houses and shacks that I went into and there were photographs up on the wall of him; people had a lot of really wonderful personal stories that they hold very dear.
