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A documentary about the few remaining citizens of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a town where coal fires have been burning underground for over 40 years.

A quiet documentary from directors Chris Perkel and Georgie Roland, The Town That Was paints a solemn portrait of Centralia, Pennsylvania.  A controlled burn of the local garbage dump in preparation for a Memorial Day celebration in 1962 managed to get out of hand, working into the coal beneath the ground.  With smoke still rising from the dump days after the fires, the locals knew that something was definitely wrong.

At the height of its success, Centralia was home to over 3000 people, and today only 11 remain, the youngest of which is in his middle age.  The empty, mournful look of the town, lonely and shrouded in smoke has been an influence on the Silent Hill video games and film, but the reality is surprisingly subdued as the locals stand in their yards, describing who used to live here or there, gesturing at the nearby empty lots.

The area is home to 90% of the world’s supply of anthracite coal, which allowed the fire to move easily beneath the ground, and in spite of massive amounts of water being dumped underground, nothing was able to stop the spread of the fire.  The money for the project ran out, otherwise the fire could’ve easily been put out, and by the time a trench was dug to stop the spread, the fire had already made it past and closer to town, according to the current Mayor of Centralia, Lamar Mervine.

The mid 80’s saw the Reagan administration resistant to committing to help the local government find a solution, and Highway 61 (the main town thoroughfare) becomes impassable as smoke rises up through the pavement and the road itself begins to crack and crumble under the strain.  The highway is re-routed away from the area, but the 12 yr. old Todd Dombowski is nearly killed when a lawn collapses, a story which draws national news attention and forces the government to get involved.  The local tensions ignite over the people who want to sell and move away vs. those who want to try and tough it out.  The estimated 650 million that would be needed to dig a trench to stop the spread of the fire is called off in favor of simply buying out the locals, relocating them and then demolishing the buildings.  This leaves the town with a strangely empty look, with empty lots for blocks around, with a single home standing here or there with one of the few remaining people still sticking it out.  Among them is the man that the film focuses the most on, John Lokitis, who at age 34 is the youngest remaining person in town.

John Lokitis spends all of his off hours repairing the few remaining landmarks in ‘town’, even going so far as to decorate for Christmas on what used to be the downtown area, some of the minutiae of which actually gets uncomfortably long as he launches into the process of how he has refurbished the décor items himself.  He also seems pleased that the relocated people still come back each year for a Memorial Day visit, though the footage of the gathering doesn’t exactly give the impression that it’s all that much of a ‘celebration’.

The reflections on the history of the town as a tightly knit mining community goes a long way towards making someone like myself (who found someone being this committed to an area somewhat puzzling) wonder why these last few stragglers would hang on as they have.  I just have a hard time understanding why someone would be so committed to an area that doesn’t even vaguely resemble the area they grew up in, after all the buildings have been removed.  Oh, and it’s somewhat hard to swallow Lokitis’ contention that there’s no reason the people couldn’t come back to the area, even as smoke billows lazily from the ground behind him.  I honestly could understand this man if he said “Hey, I hate people, there’s none here, that’s why I’m staying.” but the man maintains that this is home, and he’s always lived there, etc. My issue with that is that nothing about this place has remained the same, aside from his house and the local cemetery, everything else has been demolished as the people left.

My own confusion over his motivations aside, the film is pretty engrossing, culled together from interview footage with current and former residents, as well as vintage footage from the past of new reports and home movies shot by the locals.

The Town That Was arrives on DVD courtesy of Cinevolve, and the special features include a Highway Interview with PA State Representative Robert Belafanti, an extended interview with Todd Dombowski, more home movies from Centralia’s Centennial, as well as a music video by The Story Of for their song appropriately titled Centralia.  A photo gallery and a real estate tour of Scranton (presumably to mirror the slow decline of other neighboring areas?) round out the disc.

The film is quiet and solemn, somewhat like the remaining town itself, and while I don’t know that this would be for everyone, it’s definitely an engrossing watch.

Give it a rental.

3