Last night I watched the new version of THE FOG; it was not good! The night before I watched a documentary on Appalachia. It was about a photographer who had been taking photos of two different Appalachian families since the late eighties. The documentary was excellent and the photos were very poignant. Critics were discussing the photos and it seemed to be the gist of the critic's comments that the photographer was oftentimes staging the photos, that somehow he was, perhaps, taking advantage of the people there, and that he was being disrespectful in revealing these people's hardships. I didn't see it that way; the families portrayed in the documentary apparently thought a lot of this photographer and trusted him as a friend (the photographer was, I might add, born in Kentucky and had known these people for many years before he had started documenting their lives through photos). It is hard to imagine that such a place as Appalachia still exists in America. The people shown in the documentary were beyond poor and, perhaps, beyond help. I could not tell if they considered themselves happy or unhappy; I just think that they were resolved to their plight and their fate. They had such soleful eyes and such expressive faces that it made you sad for them.....but maybe they don't see their lives as sad.....Appalachia is all they have ever known or will know (getting out of Appalachia must be next to impossible). But wait!! One has to stop and think about the whole situation before jumping to conclusions about whether these people should be considered lucky or unlucky, happy or unhappy. What is happiness anyway and who decides when we are finally happy or unhappy? I don't know.....at least these folks have roots and a sense of where they belong. Maybe those living in the hollars of Appalachia -- or any other remote, forgotten area of America -- are the lucky ones -- content with what they have and satisfied with what they are. No competition, no stress about making more money, no trying to keep up with all the bills. It is true that the more we complicate our lives, the more we become discontented and unsatisfied. I am not trying to say we should all move to Appalachia and butcher a hog! I am just trying to tell you about what a great documentary this was!! Thanks,

s hamilton