Big Money Vs. Small Voices

Read Time:5 Minute, 12 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Running for the Mountains
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Genre: Documentary
Year Released: 2024, 2025
Runtime: 1h 17m
Director(s): Julie Eisenberg, Babette Hogan, Walter J. Gottlieb, Zachary Labin
Where to Watch: stream on Amazon, beginning October 28, 2025. Now Available on Kanopy!

RAVING REVIEW: RUNNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS begins with an image most Americans would recognize—a rolling Appalachian horizon that feels both eternal and endangered. The documentary quickly upends that serenity, revealing a region defined less by its natural beauty than by the industries exploiting it. Directed by Julie Eisenberg and Babette Hogan, the film is an unflinching look at how fossil fuel extraction and deregulation have turned West Virginia into a cautionary case study in environmental sacrifice and political rot.

The filmmakers’ 15-year investigation stitches together undercover footage, interviews with activists, and historical context to expose a system where power—literal and political—is traded in backrooms while the communities meant to benefit are poisoned in the process. Its investigative journalism is presented through a documentarian’s lens, but it is grounded in anger rather than distance. The message is clear: Appalachia’s struggle isn’t a local problem. It’s a warning about how quickly democracy erodes when industry writes the laws.

Eisenberg and Hogan use a straightforward visual style that amplifies authenticity over deceit. There’s no effort to disguise the film’s roots in activism; this is advocacy as cinema. But it’s not empty preaching either. The film’s credibility rests on the access it earns, from former state delegates and grassroots organizers to citizens who’ve spent decades fighting for clean water and breathable air. Paul Corbit Brown’s photography adds human texture to the statistics, while musicians like Ani DiFranco lend the soundtrack a tone of resistance that complements the imagery rather than softening it.

Where the documentary succeeds is in reframing patriotism. Rather than letting energy conglomerates claim the language of national duty, RUNNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS insists that protecting the land is the real act of loyalty. It’s a subtle but powerful shift, especially when placed against footage of politicians like Senator Joe Manchin praising the very industries that fund their campaigns. The film’s indictment isn’t personal—it’s structural. But the through-line is unmistakable: greed cloaked in civic pride is still greed.

The film’s structure mirrors the cyclical nature of its subject. It loops between the same themes—regulation gutted, communities promised jobs, landscapes destroyed—but rather than redundancy, the repetition reinforces the despair of a state trapped in dependence. The directors balance outrage with empathy, never mocking those who defend coal out of fear for their livelihoods. The camera listens before it condemns, which makes the eventual condemnation all the more earned.

When the film hits its stride, it's galvanizing— especially in the segments capturing the small-town activists who refuse to back down. A woman testifying before local officials about poisoned water carries more power than any sweeping policy montage could. Those lived moments, where courage looks ordinary, give RUNNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS its soul.

Visually, the documentary resists perfection. The rough edges feel intentional, an aesthetic choice that mirrors the unrefined strength of its subjects. The cinematography shifts between protest marches, polluted waters, and state-house steps, emphasizing that the fight isn’t fought in one place but everywhere simultaneously. The film’s final stretch builds toward a quiet fury rather than a grand finale, ending not with closure but with challenge.

Thematically, it fits comfortably within a tradition of American activist documentaries, yet it distinguishes itself by grounding its outrage in cultural intimacy. West Virginia isn’t treated as a lost cause; it’s depicted as America in microcosm. The filmmakers understand that what happens in coal country doesn’t stay there. The deregulation tested in Appalachia becomes policy nationwide.

If there’s a single line that defines the film’s purpose, it comes not from a narrator but from an Appalachian resident who says, “They call it patriotism when they take our land, but treason when we fight back.” That inversion sums up everything RUNNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS is trying to expose: the perversion of loyalty, the commodification of natural beauty, and the cost of silence.

As a piece of filmmaking, it’s modest; as a wake-up call, it’s potent. Its urgency is its artistry. The story feels local, yet its implications are national, connecting rural despair to legislative corruption and corporate greed. It’s not always an easy watch, but it’s an essential one—a film that refuses to let convenience excuse complicity. RUNNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS lands where passion meets imperfection: informative, necessary, occasionally uneven, but undeniably vital. It’s proof that truth doesn’t have to be cinematic to be cinematic; it just has to be loud enough to echo off the hills that inspired it.

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[photo courtesy of FIRST RUN FEATURES]

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