THE TOWN THAT WAS
- documentary
- a film by Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland
- 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.
- Year: 2007 • Running Time: 71 minutes • Rating: NRvRegion: 1
- | visit film website |
- DVD Info:
- UPC: 812142010133
- ISBN: 1-60663-013-X
- Catalog Number: CS1013
- ☆☆☆½
Haunting in Twilight Zone fashion... unforgettable
– USA Today Strangely haunting
– The Morning Call (Allentown, PA)A solid informative look at an American story most of us don’t know about
– The Reminder (Western MA)Compelling
– Deseret News (Salt Lake City)An enthralling and captivating documentary that should tug at the heart strings of anyone who grew up in Small Town, U.S.A.
– Patriot News (Harrisburg, PA)Gripping…co-directors Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland spent four years working on the film and the result mixes a history of the role of coal mining in Pennsylvania with a mind-boggling civic disaster that is like something out of a Stephen King novel
– Connecticut PostShould resonate with those who enjoy stories of forgotten Americana
– Home Media MagazineChris Perkel and Georgie Roland's absorbing, emotionally resonant documentary of the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania - a town slowly devastated and ultimately erased, first by an underground coal fire and later by a detached government - will echo in viewers' minds long after the DVD stops. As filmmakers follow John Lokitis, one of the town's eleven remaining residents, feelings of morose resignation and blind faith conflate into a deep examination of memory and place, making this a documentary that's enthusiastically recommended
–DVD Talk.com
A fascinating and remarkably interesting film
– DVD VerdictA sad, strange and moving story of an old American town that became an inconvenience for modern society
– DVD Town.comThe kind of movie that would be impossible to accept as anything other than an urban legend, if you hadn’t already read somewhere that it was true
– Movie City News.comIt’s a tale of melancholy and woe, but an interesting one in this fine documentary
– Monsters and Critics.com
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