Rich Hill (2014)

It is a performances centric movie

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I just watched it yesterday, so forgive me for coming so late to the party.This movie was depressing, but familiar. My small town, while not as small as Rich Hill, has pockets of poverty which are similar. There are hundreds of thousands of very small towns which have the same sorts of issues all over the U.S. But that's not the point. The film makers came from this area and still were able to leave and make something of themselves. I think, if you aren't familiar with this sort of poverty, you might not realize it exists and THAT was their point.I loved Andrew, because he had so much hope. There was always a "reason" why they had to leave each home, even if it was because "God wanted us here". I could tell he was getting frustrated by the end, though. The 4th of July, when he bought fireworks for the neighbors and they set them off near the trailer park was great. Even though this took place a few years ago, the images were scenes of a life that could have happened 50 or 60 years ago. Quintessential, you might say of small town Midwestern USA.Even though Appachey's mom could be a bit rough, I felt like she was real. Right there in the trenches with her kids, doing the best she could and just letting it all hang out. She talked about not having choices and that was sad to me. Everyone should have choices. I hope she can find some way to get out of the place she's in and I hope Appachey goes along with her. There is some vestige of intelligence deep inside them both and I hope there's a way for them to reach it.Harley was a really sad case, but I felt even with all his problems, he was a good kid. It made me angry, though, when he was in the principal's office and was chastised and threatened for wanting to leave school. The principal showed very little understanding for Harley's problems and that was shameful. I do know the principal has a difficult job and likely some of his posturing was for show, but have a little sympathy. If something like what Harley has lived through had happened to his own child, I would hope he'd handle it better. I just think Harley would have been better served in a different environment. As always, the tough thing about these kinds of movies is things are never solved. At least, not the way we want them to be. There's a lot of repetition and a lot of undesirable generational behavior. As someone who tries to see the "big picture", it's frustrating, because just when one of these people has something good happen to them, they fall right back into their old behavior and it's gone again. They can't seem to see their options, if indeed they ever had any in the first place.

Im baffled as to why this film gets such poor, or at least middling, reviews. This is one of the most captivating documentaries/films/shows i've ever watched. Im glad the filmmakers didn't try to explain the whys or wherefores, they just allowed the boys, their homes, the location to be the story in a truly fascinating and wonderful way. The relationship between andrew and his father is one of the most superbly captured father/son relationships I've ever seen on screen. I don't understand how people can feel frustration or anger while watching this movie and then give it a poor review. You're supposed to feel frustrated and angry! You're supposed to like Andrew! He seems like a great kid! You're supposed to want to give that other kid a kick in the ass! And his mom! To me thats the beauty of this film. I laughed, got mad, and even cried while watching it. I experienced the full spectrum of emotion throughout the 90or so mins Super filmmaking - I wish i could erase it from my memory so i could watch it anew all over again.

"Rich Hill" intimately chronicles the turbulent lives of three boys living in an impoverished Midwestern town and the fragile family bonds that sustain them.The camera could have been pointed at just about any city in America, whether in the Midwest or otherwise. But the fact this place is called "Rich Hill" and the story focuses on poverty gives it a certain kind of irony.This documentary is not pretentious and not inherently political. Some will want to put a political spin on it one way or another with their commentary about poverty in America and how to fix it (or how people get there in the first place). Some might even say this is not real poverty, as these kids are still getting by. But this is a snapshot of America circa 2014, and one that will hopefully look better in another decade.

I grew up in a town very close to Rich Hill and I get this. It seems easier to judge when the area is farther from where you live. There is a big problem with poverty in Missouri especially in rural areas where job options are limited and good education may be harder to obtain; my home town also struggles with it but has some advantage in being closer to the jobs in Kansas City( if the car expense can be covered). These rural areas really suffer when they are outside of public busing distance to big city jobs as Rich Hill is and when too many factories have pulled out. Even my hometown is outside of busing limits so people have to carpool or have very good working car and afford the gas to get to the job in Kansas City and live off it. Living in the city is no picnic either as Kansas City rental rates are getting higher and higher for rent and apartments can be quite scary compared to knowing everyone in your smaller town(I am experiencing that now as pay raises are not matching inflation at all.) Yeah, I get this, insightful movie.