FRONTLINE - Country Boys

Streaming video - 2006

A companion film of sorts to the 1998 PBS blockbuster "The Farmer's Wife," Country Boys turns the lens to Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson, two teenage boys from Appalachian Kentucky.. Although wired to the world via the internet and cable, they are deeply rooted in a region stigmatized as "other," where the lack of economic opportunity puts its youth under uncommon pressure. The film follows them over three years, from ages 15 to 18, examining what it means to come of age in Appalachia.. Cody Perkins is an orphan. His mother's postpartum suicide left him in the care of his father, who, twelve years later, killed his seventh wife before turning the gun on himself. After being passed among relatives, Cody chooses ...to live with his former step-grandmother, who opens her heart and home to the lost youth. Cody's hand-picked family also includes his girlfriend, Jessica, and her parents, Ray and Tammy. The director of several local mines and a country singer, Ray becomes an iconic father figure for both boys.. Chris Johnson lives in a trailer with his mother, his father, two siblings and his grandmother. With both parents often absent, Chris, the eldest, finds himself thrust into the role of caretaker- emotionally supporting his siblings even as his meager SSI check and string of low-paying jobs financially support the family.. Over six hours of television, Country Boys will traverse the emotional terrain of the boys as they journey to adulthood, struggling to overcome the dysfunction and poverty of their youth and in so doing come to a place of meaning and direction.. For Cody, that sense of belonging is found through his heavy metal Christian band, his faith in God and his relationship with his girlfriend Jessica. Chris, however, struggles to find similar comfort. Torn between devotion to his family and commitment to education, he searches, often in vain, to find a path where he can meet his familial responsibilities without losing his sense of self.. more