‘A JOURNEY WORTH TAKING …’
by Mark Lakatos
Nestled in the East North Central region of the U.S., the township of Piketon has almost seen it all – while by their own admission not being seen all that much themselves. It’s a place that keeps to itself, and as a result of that status, it struggles to let go of what it was. Maintaining that somewhat melancholic sentiment, Director Laura Paglin’s documentary This is Pike County is a hauntingly authentic look at life on the fringes of what many consider true Americana.
The documentary unravels organically, focusing on life in Piketon on a spectrum—the good, the bad, and the in-between. Drugs, suicide, religion, tradition, and togetherness birthed from neglect and trauma—it’s all there, and many share testimonials of their lives lived exclusively in the area. We get to see the remembrance honoring the so-called Cold War Veterans, only to discover that their existence is linked to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which was a key uranium enrichment facility during the arms race with the Soviet Union. The impact of the facility’s upkeep? Devastating; the effects are still being felt by locals exposed to decades of radiation from the waste.
This is Pike County progresses almost like a photography exposé—taking key minutes from people’s lives all around the township and stitching them together beautifully. In essence, it seizes the moment any chance it gets to tell a story within a story, where the locality is further fleshed out by personal experiences. The film moves at a comfortable pace because of this, sometimes perhaps too leisurely for its own good given current audience retention trends; even still, it never sacrifices its aforementioned philosophy and finds a great deal of comfort in the resilience many individuals show in the face of tragedy.
Case in point is the film’s other pivotal plot point, the shocking Pike County Massacre that saw eight members of the Rhoden family murdered by members of the Wagner family over a custody dispute—the killings testing the foundation of the community. We see firsthand how people interact with the news, the trial, and eventual convictions. The tragedy has a lingering effect over Piketon, and Paglin spins that into an endearing struggle. Something really interesting is the film’s choice to omit the names and professions of its subjects, a brilliant creative decision that grounds the project; these aren’t experts or professionals reading facts off teleprompters, they are people being recorded in their most casual state of existence.
The camerawork is also effective; run-and-gun-style interviews are complemented with striking shots of towering billboards, damp fields, and oddly inviting wilderness. Just like its storytelling, the imagery feels like you are flipping the pages of a very large, very thoughtfully assembled photo album.
This is Pike County is as much about the unique people living in the seemingly forgotten town of Piketon as it is about the area itself and what it represents. It’s a considerate, bleak but ultimately inspiring documentary—the kind that really doesn’t get made anymore.