Review of Holler

This is a wonderful, sensitive, and poignant film about personal hardships in the manufacturing center of an Ohio town. The acting is superb and the personal struggles are real. Some reviewers felt disappointed that there was no action, and although there was some tension in parts, there needn't be action to make a great movie. This drama is simply not conducive to action since a mellow and bleak tone, one of hopelessness, pervades the film which aligns with the theme. Although Ruth talks about going to college and getting out of the never ending cycle of downtrodden existence her crack mom and guardian older brother experience, as well as others in the community, she realizes the difficulty of breaking away. She and her brother tried to support themselves collecting scrap metal from abandoned manufacturing plants for a hardnosed scrap metal business owner who undercuts the value of what they bring in. Given all that Ruth proclaimed throughout the movie, about the importance of her getting out from under by going to college, the ending was quite disappointing. It seemed like the director was thinking that there was enough of this film made and suddenly thought it was time to end it. At that point, Ruth's emotional ties to her brother overtake her college aspirations and it appears she remains stuck in the same kind of dying manufacturing town life. I can only hope it would be temporary.

The one problem I felt that was particularly bothersome because it lacked authenticity, was that Ruth and her brother talk about how the cost of going to college was essentially prohibitive since they were so poor. That was the only unreal aspect of this film since someone as smart and poor as Ruth was, would not have a problem with cost of going to college.