Customer Reviews

TOWN THAT WAS, THE

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First the "pros" of this DVD ... excellent footage is included of the town (or lack thereof), the re-routed PA Route 61, the damage the fire continues to do, and the scenery around the area. Watching the elderly mayor of Centralia and one of the last remaining residents gives a good feel for how attached some people were to the town and why they still will not leave. The home movies from the 1960's that are briefly shown on the DVD add character and a real personality to the town that has a way of getting lost when you just read about the history of the town.

Now the "cons" of this DVD ... I have two complaints. First, the video is very shaky for extended periods of time. For a professionally recorded and edited DVD, the camera operator(s) really should have used a tripod! I found myself looking away from the screen a few times because of the shaky camerawork. The second complaint is that the story of Centralia is told through the eyes of one of the very few remaining residents. Nothing against him, mind you. He did a good job of explaining his family roots and what makes him stay on in a town that no longer has any ownership of property. However, to be honest about it -- I wanted to see more of a visual history of the town and the mine fire. The producer(s)/writer(s) spent too much camera time on one person. While his story is interesting and I am not knocking him, I would have enjoyed seeing a lot more fully-factual information in it.

Lastly, having read the book "The Day the Earth Caved In" as well as currently reading "Unseen Danger", the DVD missed a lot of key parts of the story: how did the fire truly begin? Who is Todd Domboski? (he is shown in the DVD without an explanation of who he is and how he directly relates to the panic of 1981) Also ... who supported the town being kept intact? Who was firebombed for supporting the town being relocated? How did the residents end up fighting with each other over staying in the town or leaving? What did the majority of the residents decide was best for the town? What public officials were involved in the total bungling of the fire suppression projects? Did the state and federal governments have an alternate motive for vacating the residents of the town?

All and all, the production of this DVD is not bad, but I would have liked to have seen a lot more history of the town and the fire, as well as more interviews with past and present residents. The remaining resident they interviewed should have been a chapter on the DVD but not the main focus. For $20.00+, I think the DVD should be marketed with a better description of what the disc actually has on it. It is honestly mostly about one remaining resident, as well as the elderly mayor and two former residents.

If you're looking for a full "history" of the town and the mine fire, this DVD is NOT the place to start your quest for knowledge. If you're familiar with the story already (as I was), then this DVD is worthy viewing. $20.00+ for it is a bit pricey. The DVD fails as a good history of the town and mine fire, but it does succeed in bringing people into the story of Centralia. It helps you understand better that people made up Centralia, not just buildings and historic information. I don't mean to knock or degrade this DVD, but 70 minutes of a small number of people and not a lot of history make $20.00 seem kind of steep for the DVD.

Thank you for reading this.

I have actually taken a trip up to Centralia a few months ago, to see basically a massive meadow with smoldering hillsides. Once you see this video, you get to see what WAS there, and how that strange place was once a massive and thriving town. It is truly amazing.

Recent local news says that the last resident finally moved out. This is an excellent account of a small town, lost to a man made disaster and the few loyal people who hung on until the very end. Covers Pennsylvania history, coal mining history. Answered all of the questions that came to my mind over the years since I first heard about it. Well done independent film.

This book is as accurate as it can be. I lived in Centralia, it was my hometown, and David DeKok has done a true service to the town and it's residents by writing this book. It was hard to grow up there, but when I was there I was a kid and had no idea of the type of devastation that was in store for the town.
I loved this book, and would reccomed it to anyone who wants to see a modern day tale of govenment corruption.

Very well done ! Excellent story !

I have lived in close proximity to Centralia my entire life. I have witnessed the heydays of this forgotten town during my childhood in the 1970s. I have visited often since its demise in the early 1980s, doing my best to photograh and document the tragic loss of a community's life for my own personal record.
This film brought tears and visceral emotion..realizing that what I had experienced as a "local" were merely just pictures and newspaper clippings. The true meaning of this film is of one man's hope..hope to preserve and save the true legacy of a small town and the people who once called it home. His continued unselfish, un-rewarded efforts to keep what is left of his hometown alive.
I write this while listening to the DVD's soudtrack, feeling, once again, emotion. Trying to understand the emotions of the residents of this town, past and current, and my own...wondering how this could happen. An entire town..full of life,love and spirit.. vanished.

This film not only can be important to people from this area in NE PA, it also can be enjoyed by anyone interested in the love of life, the undying determination of hope, and memories.

This movie is an excellent documentary about a town that disappeared due to inertia and apparent lack of understanding of the magnitude of the problem created by an underground fire that started out small and continues to burn 30 plus years later. I was very moved by the extent of the situation created by a community's attempt to dispose of trash in a seemingly nature-friendly manner. To recognize the cost to the residents of this small close-knit community is overwhelming. Once again man is at logger-heads with nature. This is a movie that should be viewed by everyone.

If you've ever thought Centralia was just the butt of jokes in the coal region or a ghost town, this is a great movie to watch. It's very inspiring to see John, the main character, and how dedicated he is to the upkeep of his hometown, and how he keeps hope in the face of everyone else's doubt. This is a great movie to help understand what really happened in Centralia.

What an excellent documentary! My husband and I live near Centralia, and went to visit after viewing the docu...so sad, surreal. =( I would have loved to have met John. I highly recommend this film!

The Town That Was is an interesting account of the heartbreaking true story of Centralia, PA.

This is a captivating movie, certainly for me. I drove through Centralia a number of times some years ago, both in the very early days of the fire when the town was essentially intact, and after it had become a smoking ghost zone with contorted roads and scary subduction zones. And virtually no people. I learned a lot about this largely unknown little town from this documentary. Nicely done.