B.J. Gudmundsson, using no grants or donations from anyone else, has created “Rise Up! West Virginia,”her finest film about the effects of mountaintop removal mining on her beloved West Virginia. Unlike her previous films including “Mountain Mourning” and “God’s Gift of a Wild and Wonderful Land” as well as her biographical films of Larry Gibson and Maria Gunnoe, she does this one in the first person, stating directly to her camera how devastated she has been as she has learned more and more about what MTR does to the lives of her fellow West Virginians.

I really enjoyed seeing her interviews with great West Virginians like George Daugherty, Julian Martin, Jim Foster, Mary Miller, Pauline Canterberry, Ed Wiley,  filmmaker and anti-MTR activist Robert Gates, and the well-known anti-MTR people like Gibson, Gunnoe, and Judy Bonds. This wider mix of people shows better than any film to date how widespread the dislike is for many of the worst practices of the coal mining industry in the state.

She has also included some footage or photographs of celebrities who have come to WV recently to help in the campaign including Robert Kennedy Jr. and Kathy Mattea. Obviously, B.J. has spent a lot of time during the last year exploring what she really thinks about the unprecedented destruction of West Virginia’s mountains by the current version of coal mining. Luckily for West Virginians, some people with clout have finally paid attention. 2007 hopefully will be the tipping point year for awareness of the evils of MTR.

I also greatly enjoyed the great music by T. Paige Dalporto, George Daugherty, Agust Gudmunddson, and others.

This film, as much as any film I have seen made in WV since 1978, shows that the people of West Virginia have the great intelligence and strength to stand up to the coal industry that has received unprecedented support from the Bush Administration that has lied to the American public as much about his war on Appalachia as much as he has lied about his invasion of Iraq.

 She includes footage of the one elected national leader from WV who has stood up to coal, Ken Hechler, from various presentations he has given in support of the people and miners of the state. It took real courage to do this - something not done in any other film I have seen on MTR.

I know that B.J. supports John Edwards for president. His anti-corporate platform has also gained support from Ralph Nader and many others who realize that the time to control America’s toxic form of capitalism is here, given the threat of global warming. Others I know support Obama, hoping that he will stand up to the corporations who put Bush in office. I don’t know if ANYONE even if they are elected to the presidency could do anything meaningful in Washington given the billions spent by the corporations, hiring thousands of full-time lobbyists. If Edwards or Obama were elected, the U.S. might face something like the assassination of Bhutto in Pakistan - people in power will do whatever it takes to stay in power. That is why this personal film by B.J. is important, and hopefully, may eventually help WV’s own leaders, both in office and otherwise, stand up to Big Coal finally, and stop the destruction. Global warming has apparently been taken seriously enough by Toyota, GE and other giant corporations so they they can see if the human race dies, they will die with it. Maybe films like this will help our leaders see that there are thousands, and like Julian Martin says, 80 % of West Virginians, who want to control MTR and other evils of mining coal here.

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