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At the outset of Impossible Town, you might anticipate that the film will reach a triumphant conclusion. The documentary follows a decades-long battle to get at the truth about carcinogenic compounds known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) left behind by the coal mining industry in the rural southern West Virginia town of Minden, in the heart of Appalachia.
The film’s central premise is that PCBs, which were banned in the U.S. in 1979, are responsible for the stunning level of cancer cases and deaths in Minden. It focuses on the fight led by Dr. Ayne Amjad, an unlikely heroine who is carrying on a mission begun by her late father. Haunted by his mandate to “help others” in the period leading up to his untimely death, Amjad devises a bold plan to relocate 250 Minden residents, many of them poor, to a property she purchased in a nearby community away from the PCB contamination.
The well-intentioned plan faces overwhelming odds due to infighting, trepidation and the onset of the COVID pandemic.
The early part of the documentary had me thinking of Erin Brockovich, the 2000 film starring Julia Roberts and based on a true story. The real-life Brockovich discovered a cover-up involving contaminated water in a small California community that caused devastating illnesses among its residents. But unlike Erin Brokovich, which culminates with a massive settlement for the residents, Impossible Town turns out not to be a story of triumph but one of grief, loss and deep frustration stemming from long-standing environmental injustice.
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The film begins with an immediately impactful moment as resident Darrell “Butter” Thomas, clad in a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of John Wayne, walks down a road he refers to as “Death Valley Highway.” With nearly every house he passes, he rattles off the names of the former occupants who died of cancer, many of whom were his close friends. He even mentions that dogs living in one of the houses also endured battles with cancer.
“How can you tell me there’s not a problem?” an obviously frustrated Thomas asks.
Thomas is a central figure in the film, along with Susie Worley Jenkins, a quadruple cancer survivor who serves as an inspiration and close friend to Amjad.
The film also features snippets of Amjad’s father, Hassan, who grew up in an impoverished community in Pakistan before immigrating to West Virginia. Hassan, who died unexpectedly in 2017, made it his life’s work to prove that PCBs were responsible for poisoning the people of Minden. Early on in his crusade, he pushed state and federal environmental protection agencies to investigate the situation in Minden. During an early site visit, a soil sample showed PCB contamination at astronomical levels. Clean-up attempts were made but the main issue over the years came down to whether the contamination was so widespread and problematic that it would warrant the relocation of residents.
Throughout the battle to determine contamination levels, there has been an often-contentious relationship between residents and the Environmental Protection Agency, whose soil and water tests in more recent years failed to show elevated levels of PCBs. Residents have accused the agency of not testing in proper locations. A test revealing high levels now could give the residents valuable evidence to seek restitution through a lawsuit.
Throughout the film, Ayne Amjad struggles to carry on the work started by her father while also handling her day-to-day duties seeing patients and dealing with personal turmoil. She purchases a 97-acre plot of land in Odd, West Virginia about 35 miles from Minden, where she hopes to relocate residents. Despite offers of money and land, nearly all residents balk at leaving Minden. Some deem the compensation too low, while others a reluctant to give up the homes where they raised their families, despite the health risks of remaining.
Amjad’s crusade takes a massive toll on her mental and physical health, especially when her duties become even greater when she is named State Health Officer during the COVID pandemic. She works tirelessly and never speaks down to the residents, who come off as astute, devoted and compassionate as they literally struggle for their existence.
The film culminates when another round of soil and water tests are conducted, which again fail to reveal elevated levels of PCBs, leaving the residents without much of a legal case.
Tears are shed when Amjad subsequently sells off the land she had acquired to support the relocation of residents.
“I had big lofty goals and it didn’t pan out,” she laments.
Although the tests failed to turn up any evidence of current contamination from PCBs, an EPA official noted that it doesn’t rule out past contamination. It just leaves it impossible to prove now, the official arguing that there should have been more extensive testing conducted decades earlier.
In a presentation after the screening, co-directors Meg Griffiths and Scott Faris talked of the four years they spent in Minden and the surrounding areas working on the film, and how fluid the situation remains.
“It’s a film that leaves with you with a lot of questions,” Faris said.
Impossible Town is a meticulously well-made film that will certainly stir up emotions. Viewers get a crystal-clear sense of life in the town and the challenges residents face. Residents are presented in a respectful and compassionate way, and you feel their pain and frustration as they struggle to gain the peace of mind they so desperately want and deserve while preserving their way of life among the scenic and rolling mountainside.
SEE FOR YOURSELF: You can catch the Milwaukee Film Festival’s showing of Impossible Town at the Downer Theatre on Wednesday, April 24 at 4 p.m.
