I first wrote about a soon-to-be-released documentary, "Blood on the Mountain," over a year ago. It's release, however, was delayed until later this month perhaps to include material about the Blankenship trial. Here's the description of the film from its homepage:

Blood on the Mountain is a searing investigation into the economic and environmental injustices that have resulted from industrial control in West Virginia. This new feature documentary details the struggles of a hard-working, misunderstood people, who have historically faced limited choices and have never benefited fairly from the rich, natural resources of their land. Blood On The Mountain delivers a striking portrait of a fractured population, exploited and besieged by corporate interests, and abandoned by the powers elected to represent them.

Here's the new preview:

Historian Charles B. Keeney writes an excellent introduction to the film at Common Dreams:

A place mired in poverty, a culture of guns, conservative religion, poorly educated people, an angry and embittered populace.

These are common words used by journalists and writers to describe West Virginia. What may surprise some readers, however, is that I am referring to media interpretations of West Virginia in 1921, not 2016. . . .

A more authentic and complete narrative of West Virginia can be found in the upcoming documentary film Blood on the Mountain. The film explores how state governments and their regulatory agencies can be controlled by large corporations, the crucial role of absentee land ownership in preventing economic diversification in West Virginia, and how local education has been manipulated to shape regional attitudes against labor unions and climate science. Above all, the film chronicles the rise and fall of organized labor in America through the struggles of West Virginia workers.

My comments from last year still apply: I doubt that we'll see the film playing at the Highlands and given PBS's rightward, corporate drift, I 'm not confident that it will be shown on PBS as an earlier and less controversial film by these producers, "The Appalachians," was. Maybe Towngate can show the film as part of next fall's film series or a local group can sponsor a showing. The preview suggests that this a serious film that needs to be seen by West Virginians as an alternative to the constant barrage of pro-coal industry propaganda. Hopefully, we will eventually get a chance to see this film.

Hat tip to The Daily Kos for the link to the Keeney article.