Between Rock and a Hard Place
Directed, produced, and eloquently photographed by Kenneth Fink, Between Rock and a Hard Place is a portrait of the lives of mine workers provided through the words of three articulate miners, each at a crucial juncture in his life. Taking economic hardship and physical oppression as a given, Fink thereby delves into realms of mining life rarely seen on film: one begins to understand the nature of the community that has built up around mining over the decades and, finally, to understand some of the subtle reasons why mining continues to be passed down from generation to generation. Fink's camera goes down into the mine, through tunnels, and out again to the beautiful Kentucky mountain ranges; into the clinic where black-lung is routinely diagnosed; into the backyards of hard-won homes; into the locker room; and, inevitably, back into the mine. Throughout, the men speak of their attitudes toward the work, their fellow miners, issues of racism, their families, and their futures. With a filmmaker's eye for color and thematic photography, and an empathetic outsider's ear for nuance, Fink achieves a remarkably balanced documentary, romanticizing neither hardship nor beauty, but allowing for both. (JB)