After watching “Born Into Coal” made me realize the struggle
those coal workers have on a daily basis and how it negatively affects their
families. It brought me back to October Sky with Jake Gyllenhaal and how he had
to become a coal miner. I thought it was cool how they showed the difference
between the nice looking beauty queens and the dirty coal miners. They kept
zooming in on their hands to show the difference between the nails of the
daughters/ beauty queens and the dirt filled nails of the coal miners. They
transferred scene to scene with everyday life of the families and their
concerns for their fathers since there has been mine collapses, which is a
problem in mining. After looking up, there have been more mining injuries in
past decades but in recent years the mining accidents have gone down to about
30 fatalities per year. I noticed that it must be very tough and tiring for the
coal workers as they have long 8 hour days in a dark mine, which you see one of
the fathers go into the mine. Not only was it a hard job, it also took a toll
on the coal miners’ body. It showed the importance of how black lung was a
problem in the community and going back to October Sky, I remember black lung
was also a problem. At the end of the documentary it showed the end of the
pageant and that the winner was a coal miners daughter. The scene of her
standing with her pageant gown and crown on at the coal mine showed us the
connection between the coal mine and why she might even need the mine, since
her family depends on it for income. Although it is bad for the community it is
the risk they take and it is how they get their income.
