Three retirees, one of them dying from cancer, take on big business in director Brennan Robideaux’s Sallie’s Ashes. This 39-minute documentary recounts Sarah “Sallie” Smith, Diane Thomas, and Savan Wilson’s fight to get Alabama Power to ensure its toxic waste doesn’t spill into Mobile River and Bay and cause an ecological disaster.
With snappy editing and lucid storytelling, Robideaux efficiently puts together engaging portraits of the central subjects. He lends heft to the proceedings by using archival footage, and outlines the stakes with judicious use of graphics. But the real magic is when he hangs back to simply observe Sallie, Diane, and Savan, letting them take us from A to Z, seemingly aware he has struck gold with these extraordinary women. They are disarming, have real gumption, but most importantly, they show real determination at a time when apathy sets in for most. It’s downright inspiring.
“Three retirees, one of them dying from cancer…fight to get Alabama Power to ensure its toxic waste doesn’t spill into Mobile River…”
Watching someone doggedly pursue a righteous cause against long odds immediately fires you up. The uncertainty of whether it’ll work out will have you on edge for the duration. That would honestly be enough. Yet, Sallie’s Ashes has a profound human element to it because Smith, the driving force behind the grassroots movement, is also facing a terminal cancer diagnosis. So while Thomas battles entrenched political attitudes and economic inertia (she has to disclaim she’s not “a woke” when speaking publicly) and Wilson works to build their platform online (a website and Facebook page, though she struggles with Instagram), Sallie heartrendingly fights against the inevitable.
More than a case of concerned citizens taking on a faceless corporation, Sallie’s Ashes tells the story of three people who care, commit, and apply themselves in the hopes of protecting the generations to come. You’ll watch a dying woman struggle to draw breath, but still spare none of it, trying to make a difference until the end. If you can watch this documentary’s climax without feeling either moved to tears or to organize, do us all a favor and close the lid on your coffin, because you are surely dead.
"…downright inspiring."
