The eyes of the world are on one person right now, JD Vance , who was just announced as former president Donald Trump’s running mate in his campaign for the US presidency . But before Vance, 39, was a couple of steps away from the most powerful position in the world, he was just a self-proclaimed “hillbilly” raised in the Appalachian mountains of Ohio, the product of a chaotic childhood filled with poverty, despair and dysfunction. His exceptional journey to Yale Law School was documented in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy , published in 2017.
“I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve accomplished nothing great in my life, certainly nothing that could justify a complete stranger spending money to read about,” writes Vance in the introduction to the book which has now become a kind of prophecy. “I am not a senator, a governor, or a cabinet secretary.” The book became an instant bestseller and the subject of a Netflix movie by the same name .
The drama stars Amy Adams as Vance’s mother Bev, and Glenn Close as his grandmother Mawmaw. Vance himself was an executive producer on the movie, and is portrayed by actor Gabriel Basso. The film was described by The Independent ’s critic Clarisse Loughrey as “a sickeningly irresponsible parade of death and despair”.
Forbes ‘ writer Scott Mendelson, wrote that the film “plays like ‘privileged’ Hollywood outsiders looking in with pity so as to assuage their white liberal guilt. By ignoring the very specific politic.