Review
Gosh, what an amazing real world mystery: in 1962, Centralia, Pennsylvania, was a thriving mining town when a trash fire ignited a seam of anthracite coal. The fire continued until the mid 1980s when the landscape of this sleepy little hamlet looked more like a war-zone than a place where families lived and prospered. What happened to the town that was? Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland s fascinating little documentary, The Town That Was, answers that question through interviews with former and present residents. Yes, amazingly some 11 die-hards still live in the smoking town that sits atop some of the purest coal in the world. One resident, John Lokitis is the youngest remaining Centralian and continues to fight to keep his literally burning away town alive. Living in his grandfather s home, he takes us on a tour of the place. And he says that it is as it has mostly always been. But while it may be the same inside, the outside is nothing like it was. Lokitis commitment to the spirit of the town is made very personal and touching by filmmakers Perkel and Roland who smartly intersperse great old home movies from the town s folk. One old film shows a large group partying in what looks like a bar or recreation center. They re all dressed like pilgrims, with the hats and everything, happily they drink beer from ornately shaped brown bottles (perhaps, a local Pennsylvania brew popular at the time). It s like something straight out of The Deer Hunter. Against the backdrop of what happens in the years to come, this scene is so very poignant. But Lokitis desire to keep living in the smoking environment is kind of disturbing. His pupils look to be the size of pin-points and his statements about there being no danger in the area doesn t square with the reality that s all around him. In one scene, Lokitis says something like the government won t let those remaining sell the land and restart the town even though it is safe. He s saying this as the field behind him continues to belch smoke! And experts warn that the very ground below him could ignite at any second! But there is a larger tragic point here. These people have lost their tangible sense of home, which is more than just the structures themselves, the land itself no longer available to them. The concept of being a refugee in the United States is unique to American citizens. While we see an influx of immigrants and are debating these issues on Capital Hill, most Americans have little personal connection to the plight of those forced from their home. The former residents of Centralia know what this is like. And Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland s film, The Town That Was, gives us a glimpse of what it is like to be a refugee in the most free country in the world. --Entertainment Insiders
Product Description
In 1962, a trash fire ignited a seam of anthracite coal beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania, a once-thriving mining town of over 3,000 people. By the mid-1980s, giant plumes of smoke and deadly carbon monoxide gases billowed from fissures in the ground, the local highway cracked and collapsed, trees were bleached white and petrified, as the fire continued to rage unchecked. It wasn't until a young boy nearly died after falling into a smoldering mine subsidence that the government was pressed into action. After estimating the cost of extinguishing the fire at over half a billion dollars, the government instead opted to raze the town and relocate its residents. Today, 11 die-hards remain. Filmed over a period of four years with interviews ranging from former residents to Congressmen, The Town That Was is an intimate portrait of John Lokitis, the youngest remaining Centralian, and his quixotic fight to keep alive a hometown that has literally disintegrated under his feet. His unbowed determination and steadfast refusal to acknowledge defeat reveal a man, a town, a region, and a way of life abandoned and forgotten.
by Deryl B. Johnson
by Joan Quigley
DVD ~ Sean Connery
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