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Watch Online / Fireland (2006)
Desc: Fireland: Directed by Justin Zimmerman. The day after John F. Kennedy's assassination, 63 elderly Ohioans lost their lives in one of the largest nursing home fires in United States history. In stark black and white, Fireland cross-cuts numerous witnesses with hundreds of primary remnants of the fire - from photos to the infamous Zapruder footage of Kennedy's assassination (the only color footage in the film). 'America's Holocaust,' as it was called in the few papers that reported on the fire, has tremendous historical and social importance. Twenty-one of its unclaimed victims were buried in a mass grave when Ohio would not pay for individual burials. And while the media largely ignored it, the fire was the impetus for strict regulations on the state and federal levels. Patients died chained to their beds. They varied in age from 17 to 100. Their home had no sprinkler system, only three fire extinguishers, and phones that didn't work. They had only two staff persons to help them. They had no chance. They were quickly forgotten by everyone besides a quiet mid western community. No longer.