New documentary looking at notorious West Virginia family screens in Los Angeles

The Whites are one of West Virginia’s most notorious families. They deal drugs, do drugs, rob, steal, kill... and they tap dance.

Southern California-based filmmaker Julien Nitzberg’s new documentary about this criminal clan is "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia." It plays this weekend at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles. (Audio: Hear him talk about the film with KPCC's Alex Cohen.)

The film follows four generations of the family. There's Jesco White, the eldest son who loves huffing gasoline and mountain dancing.

Jesco says he sees himself as part Elvis Presley and part Charles Manson, as you can see in this tattoo:

Photo by Storm Taylor

Then there's 85-year-old Bertie Mae White, the matriarch of the family and widow of famed mountain dancer D. Ray White. Bertie gave birth to and adopted more children than she can even remember. Though she's a good Christian woman, Bertie managed to raise a whole generation of outlaws.

Mamie, Jesco, Bo, Poney and Sue Bob grew up living life as it had been in the hills for hundreds of
years – they drew water from a well, raised their own animals and lived without indoor plumbing. While most families in Boone County, West Virginia go into coal mining, the Whites followed a different path.

"Their family decided no, we're not going to do this," says director Julien Nitzberg. "We're going to instead scam the system, and they kind of ended up being these criminals."

Watch the trailer for "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia":

Director Nitzberg sees some parallels between the renegades of West Virginia and the gangster culture of Southern California. "Outlaw culture is very similar to gang culture," he says. "There are very few opportunities and the way many people react is to become criminals. They reject the idea of the American dream because they see no possibility of it."

"The Wild and Wonderful Whites" is playing at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles.

Here's a poem by one of the White daughters, Sue Kirk White, who's been in and out of jail:

Forgotten
by Sue Kirk White

Have you ever seen the sunshine from a lonely cell
Or felt so lonely inside and had not a soul to tell
Everyone says they miss you and wish that you were there
But way deep down inside, you know they just don’t care
You see the same ole mailman as he gets greeted with lots of smiles
And it’s the mail you have waited on for so long that isn’t even in a pile
Now when my time is finished and I roll back into town
How can I trust all these people that let me down
Should I act like it just didn’t matter when it really meant so much
All I wanted was their friendship and for them to keep in touch
So now I ask you yet again “Have you ever seen the sunshine from a lonely cell?”
No I don’t think so
Because the sun doesn’t shine in hell.