Brilliant portrayal of 'real' America - with its blemishes and hope

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 1999)

When Americans as a whole are willing to see and make films about the flaws in their society and face up to them, then there is hope for the 'hungry, tired and poor' which the country is supposed to embrace. The film is stunning in its presentation of the polarisation of society at many levels and in many ways. I believe it should be promoted in American and perhaps foreign schools to make people question and, hopefully, learn and grow. It will also help to show socities elsewhere in the world that America is not the fairy tale land of Disney, Armageddon and 90210. The film is accurately dark, but shines a beacon of light that through understanding, and not through confrontation, is the key to individual and social happiness. 10 out of 10 for willingness to 'look in the mirror'. It says something about America that the director is not American. Are American entertainers quite ready to see themselves as they are, and not as the myth tells them they are? More movies like this will say "yes, finally".
PS. The film appears to borrow a little from the Australian film 'Romper Stomper'.