Hillbilly Elegy

Ldsoldier

Old Mossy Horns
Just sat down and watched Hillbilly Elegy on Netflix. Damn. I highly recommend it. Glen Close should’ve gotten an Oscar for that performance. Now I gotta go find the book. If you want to understand what’s happening in this country right now this is definitely one of the most important stories being told.
 

KrisB

Ten Pointer
I started reading Hillbilly Elegy a while back, but need to finish it. I was shocked when I started reading it to find that the community he describes is my grandmother's community (on my mom's side). My grandmother grew up in Breathitt County, one of the poorest in the eastern Kentucky Appalachian mountains. They called it "Bloody Breathitt" because there had been some violence between some of the local people and law enforcement.

And, like so many others, she went up to Ohio for work and stayed: She spent the rest of her life in Middletown, near Dayton, Ohio. She never went back to her community (she had some other reasons, not just how hard it was there). Her relatives contacted my mother at some point when my grandmother was very old and told her about a burial plot that was being kept for my grandmother in the family cemetery. So, when she died, she finally went back to the mountains. The funeral was the only time we met her relatives in person, since we live so far away from there. But there's a guy who is related to us, like a 3rd cousin, who found us on Ancestry and he's been doing a lot of family genealogy research and we are sharing with each other what we know of the family history. There are some terrible stories about domestic violence in my grandmother's family.

Berea College, which offered scholarships to women from poor Appalachian families at that time, changed everything for my grandmother. She got one of the scholarships and got enough education there to be able to go to Ohio. She was one tough lady and very frugal. I've got the book Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes by Ronni Lundy and some of the more traditional recipes in it are very similar to things my grandmother fixed when my mom was growing up. Cornbread in milk, potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes, that kind of thing. I'm trying to learn how to make a few of those recipes to keep that part of our heritage alive.
 
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Natebonebusta

Eight Pointer
We just finished it and it was superb! Close played “Mamaw” perfectly. Just the stern, loving, to the point type of person we all need in our lives! Reminds me of my Mema but not quite as harsh. She was the best and I still miss her to this day.

You owe yourself 2 hours to carve out to watch this movie.


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Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
Read it two or three years ago, didn't even know a movie followed. The book was difficult to put down but I read it in bits and snatches to make it last longer.

Some parts of it were reminiscent of the close brushes we had with poverty while growing up in post WWII SENC.
 

DFisher

Eight Pointer
I'll be the minority I guess. Awful. But to be clear, I guess it just was not what I was expecting. I do think the acting was well-done, just didn't care for the movie. Here is a somewhat related question: Why do all movies have to use such bad language anymore? I know, I am old, but the F-word just doesn't add much to the movie, but the writers seem to think it does. Just me?
 

perfectroadglide

Ten Pointer
I'll be the minority I guess. Awful. But to be clear, I guess it just was not what I was expecting. I do think the acting was well-done, just didn't care for the movie. Here is a somewhat related question: Why do all movies have to use such bad language anymore? I know, I am old, but the F-word just doesn't add much to the movie, but the writers seem to think it does. Just me?
Not just you. All I've heard from friends was Yellowstone. I watched about 15 minutes and turned it off. I'm no prude, but it was more than even I could stand.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I'll be the minority I guess. Awful. But to be clear, I guess it just was not what I was expecting. I do think the acting was well-done, just didn't care for the movie. Here is a somewhat related question: Why do all movies have to use such bad language anymore? I know, I am old, but the F-word just doesn't add much to the movie, but the writers seem to think it does. Just me?
From someone born and raised in Appalachians and not to far from there been there and through there areound hazard several times I can say it was exaggerated a bit. I can relate as this was set in same time period as I grew up there I'm not saying there weren't plenty cussing in hills but movie was bit over top the poverty was bout right and they actually were above in class as many I knew of course when your heading that direction started getting the more civilized areas further west you got rougher crowd you got. I enjoyed movie though my wife who is not for any cussing would not watch she is one them hillbilly Pentecostals can handle a snake but you better talk right around her.😁
 

Natebonebusta

Eight Pointer
I'll be the minority I guess. Awful. But to be clear, I guess it just was not what I was expecting. I do think the acting was well-done, just didn't care for the movie. Here is a somewhat related question: Why do all movies have to use such bad language anymore? I know, I am old, but the F-word just doesn't add much to the movie, but the writers seem to think it does. Just me?

I completely agree with the overflow of cussing. My guess is that’s close to how it was in real life?

And to the Yellowstone comment, I heard the exact thing, you should watch that. Nah, way to much foul mouthing in that series!


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Soilman

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I watched it about a week ago. It really wasn't my kind of movie, and not what I expected. I don't care for a lot of cursing in movies either. I will say that Glen Close did an excellent job with her part though.
 

Scrub

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Glen Close was unreal.....great movie. She really transformed into that part reminded me of how Billy Bob Thornton did in Slingblade.
 

Cootmeurer

Six Pointer
Spent 4 years living and teaching in Berea KY. The book gets it exactly right. The movie had to add some Hollywood to reinforce the rest of the world’s stereotypes of ignorant hillbilly people.

Fact is, mountain folk can be hard to understand at times, but they are definitely the folks you want to have your back (except for the meth heads - they’ll steal from family without thinking twice).
 

luckybuck

Old Mossy Horns
Spent 4 years living and teaching in Berea KY. The book gets it exactly right. The movie had to add some Hollywood to reinforce the rest of the world’s stereotypes of ignorant hillbilly people.

Fact is, mountain folk can be hard to understand at times, but they are definitely the folks you want to have your back (except for the meth heads - they’ll steal from family without thinking twice).
There are other counties in KY just as bad if not worse. Trust me, I have hunted there for over 20 years. Also I hunt near Dayton, Ohio and have seen a few shocking murder stories from those areas that seem like fiction. My mom came out of Wilkes county where no one really had much but almost all of her 14 siblings and herself went on to do big things. Hard work gets most folks out of trouble.
 
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