Camera follows divided town
KALISPELL – Patrice O’Neill came to the Flathead Valley two years ago to make a documentary on hate. But she says she came away with a story about a community learning to find common ground, despite being polarized on many issues.
Her documentary, “The Fire Next Time,” reveals residents “taking a constructive approach to issues that have divided the community,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill arrived in Montana in the middle of 2002, just a few months after local law enforcement officials announced they had uncovered an anti-government militia cell called Project 7. Authorities said the militia members were plotting to assassinate government and law enforcement officials in the Flathead Valley.
As the story unfolded, O’Neill came to believe Project 7 was perhaps only a symptom of growing frustration and divisiveness among some in the Flathead Valley over how federal lands should be managed.
For some time, the rhetoric between environmentalists and those who supported development, such as timber harvesting, of federal lands had been heating up.
Some branded environmentalists green “Nazis,” and those on both sides of the issue said they had received death threats over comments they made.
“What began as a straightforward story about people in the valley coming together to denounce the threat of violence became a complex story that has taken 2 1/2 years to produce,” O’Neill said. “The resulting documentary is a nuanced portrait of a community grappling with issues of fear and intimidation.”
The documentary includes interviews with loggers and environmentalists – people with fundamentally conflicting views about land use planning, forest road closures, logging and wildfires.
But ultimately, O’Neill said, “The Fire Next Time” presents a picture of people seeking and finding ways to be good neighbors in the face of deep polarization. The final scene, in fact, is a group photo of diverse people who, in the words of local elected officials, “commit to taking a constructive approach to the issues that have divided the community.”
The film premieres, free of charge, Wednesday in Kalispell, with showings in Columbia Falls on Friday and in Whitefish on Saturday.
This isn’t O’Neill’s first documentary in Montana. Her California-based production company, The Working Group, produced the award-winning PBS documentary “Not in Our Town,” which documented community action following a string of apparently racially motivated crimes in Billings beginning in 1993.
O’Neill said she believes the latest documentary highlights the positive actions community residents are taking despite their differences.
“Our goal is for this to be a very positive and constructive film,” she said. “It’s really something I’d like for the community to see together. I’d like people to see it together, and then to talk about it together.”