Film
The Last Mountain
A fierce documentary about mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia, where ordinary residents fight coal corporations for their land and lives. Anchored by RFK Jr.'s environmental activism, it's an urgent, angry portrait of how profit and power crush communities. Essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand what environmental justice actually costs.
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Gasland2010
Targets fracking's hidden costs through one man's investigation into groundwater contamination near his property. Intimate, devastating, and methodical in its accumulation of evidence. A companion piece that shows the same industrial logic applied differently.
But Relies on some dramatic moments that critics have questioned; you need to distinguish between the genuine dangers and the filmmaking choices.
The Lorax2012
Animated fable about a creature fighting corporate greed and environmental destruction. Lighter in tone but genuinely rooted in the same moral framework: some things shouldn't be for sale, and ordinary people can resist.
But A family film can feel reductive after watching real people suffer real consequences. The happy ending doesn't exist in Coal River Valley.
Erin Brockovich2000
Julia Roberts as a legal assistant taking on corporate malfeasance that poisons a town. Stylish, funny, and deeply satisfying. Shows what happens when someone refuses to let power get away with harm.
But It's a Hollywood version of environmental justice—glossier, more optimistic, and ultimately more forgiving than reality tends to be.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Last Mountain
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Harlan County U.S.A.1976
Both films center Appalachian miners and their families resisting exploitation by the coal industry; Kopple's work shows the labor fight that preceded the environmental one, same enemy, different weapon.
Barbara Kopple's legendary documentary about miners striking for better conditions in Kentucky. Shot over a year, dangerously intimate. Not specifically about coal's environmental cost, but about the human price of extraction and who pays it. Structurally and morally, it's the ancestor of *The Last Mountain*.
But Slow, observational cinema verite style with minimal narration. Patience required. Some violence and real danger documented, which can be hard to watch.
More like this (4)
Dark Waters2019
Mark Ruffalo as a lawyer fighting DuPont's pollution in West Virginia. Methodical, tense, based on true events. Shows how institutional corruption protects industrial crime and how long justice takes.
But Measured corporate thriller tone can feel distant from the human wreckage. Some find the pacing slow compared to conventional dramas.
The Insider1999
A whistleblower takes on Big Tobacco with help from a 60 Minutes producer. Intelligent, thrilling, morally urgent. About the cost of speaking truth when institutions are built to silence you.
But Nearly three hours and somewhat procedural. The victory feels incomplete even when you know the facts, which some find frustrating.
An Inconvenient Truth2006
Al Gore makes climate science personal and visual. A foundational documentary that changed how millions understand environmental stakes. Imperfect but undeniably influential and moving.
But Some data has been disputed; critics argue it's more lecture than cinema. If you're burned out on climate messaging, it won't convert you.
Welcome to Collinwood2002
Both center resourceful ordinary people in economically hollowed-out American communities devising survival strategies when institutions fail them.
A crime caper set in a depressed Cleveland neighborhood where ordinary people hatch a scheme. Weird, funny, low-budget, cast with real locals. Totally different genre, but same moral framework: powerless communities do what they can to survive when the system abandons them.
But Tonal whiplash if you're expecting serious social realism. It's scrappy and unpolished. Some will find it too cute about desperation.
People
Cast
Joe Manchin IIISelf
George W. BushSelf (archive footage)
Barbara Pierce BushSelf (archive footage)
Jenna Bush HagerSelf (archive footage)
Directing
- Bill HaneyDirector
Writing
- Bill HaneyWriter
- Peter RhodesWriter
Production
- Sarah Johnson RedlichExecutive Producer
- Tim DisneyExecutive Producer
- Tim RockwoodExecutive Producer
- Bill HaneyProducer
- Clara BinghamProducer
- Eric GrunebaumProducer