New from Tribeca: The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (DVD)
Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Viewers can only hope that this disclaimer will appear at the end of The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. Alas, that would be a lie, as the White family of Boone County, West Virginia, is alive and raising hell.
To watch The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is to step into an alien world. It’s best if you can hit the pause button on values and judgment because the Whites are a species unto themselves. It’s a huge family, and it seems like every member is abusing drugs--especially prescription meds and weed. Parents smoke and imbibe with their children. Most of the adult and older teens have rap sheets that include one or more of the following: attempted homicide, robbery, prescription drug fraud, embezzlement, forgery, drug-dealing, shootings, assault, and battery. Many have been murdered.
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia profiles the White family at a time when their matriarch dies, a 22-year-old is given a 50-year sentence for attempted homicide, and a mother is not allowed to take her newborn home from the hospital because there are drugs in the baby’s system. Instead Child Protective Services takes custody of the infant girl, and by the end of the film, Mom has gone through rehab and is allowed weekend visits with her baby.
Those are the big events; every day is fueled with drugs and alcohol. When one member is in the hospital, other members are pulverizing prescription drugs on the nightstand, and they’re all snorting them. Pot-smoking is such a non-event that they smoke openly in front of the cameras and in public. Many members of this extended family are receiving government assistance of some sort; nobody works, but they always have money. They seem to have sex (and babies) indiscriminately. While one woman is in jail, her husband sleeps with her cousin (impregnating her).
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