October Country

If you ever thought that dysfunctional family units were the basis of insipid television sitcoms & turgid Hollywood movies,guess again. 'October Country' is a harrowing tale of a very real, working class, blue collar American family living in upstate New York,in a place called Mohawk Valley,where most folk work either in the Remington Fire Arms plant,or (shudder,shudder)at the local Wal Mart. That family is the Moshers. Don Mosher is a retired police officer & Viet Nam war veteran who spends his days smoking & watching old war movies on television,virtually non stop. His wife,Donna (Don's second wife,as her first is currently serving a prison sentence for child molestation),is a classic example of damaged goods,who married & had children way too early in life,has all but shut down & is just satisfied with smoking & watching the same old war movies with Don,silently. Her Mother,Dottie seems to be the catalyst of this (somewhat)fragmented family unit,and offers little more than sad perspectives on life. The two daughters of the Mosher family:Danael,a welfare mother who followed in the same sad footsteps of her mother,Donna (her first husband was an abusive,alcoholic that's equally out of the picture),who is sullen,bitter & with a chip on her shoulder,way too early in life (I can only shudder what she will be like once she hits the age of 40). Danael,early on in the film has lost her baby to D.C.F. (Department of children & families),and doesn't seem to be the least bit shaken by it. Her little sister,Desi,who spends most of her time by herself playing video games ("I watch less TV",is her response)takes all of this in & processes it as only a child her age can (she sees more ugliness than any child should). Finally,there is Donal Mosher,who had the good fortune to escape & find art as a form of therapy from all of this. Donal is a photographer/writer that created a photo essay of his f***ed up family,which forms the basis of this very well photographed essay on small town Americana. Also figuring on the edges of all of this near madness,is Denise,Don's younger sister who is a practicing Wiccan who spends her days in the local cemetery,conversing with the dead.Don has absolutely nothing to do with Denise (he totally ignores her when she visits the Mosher household during a Haloween party,and you can feel her pain at being dissed by her closest kin). Will the Moshers ever find some kind of happiness in life? Will Daneal finally find a man that she could love,and be loved back? Will Desi rise above all of this (as her big brother has),or will she end up just another statistic,as the rest of the Mosher women have? Who is to say. Donal Mosher & Michael Palmieri (moving up from directing music videos) co write & direct this video diary that takes place within a year's time frame (respectibly from October to October of the following year). Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains pervasive strong language,smoking & drinking alcohol (in the presence of minors),and disturbing testimony of child sexual abuse. Leave the little ones home.

I know there are poor, ignorant, trashy people in the world. I try to avoid them. This film makes that impossible. One can only hope they have not reproduced again. When Republicans talk about ending entitlement programs, it is this family they have in their mind's eye. No one has a job or even pretends to be looking for a job. They all live off the government. Their chief past time appears to be smoking. It certainly isn't cleaning. On the positive side, it's not often you see a film that includes so many dysfunctions in one family. Child molesting, wife beating, and promiscuity are the highlights. This family wallows in self-pity and makes no attempt to get out of their dire circumstances.

This film is a documentary portrait of the Mosher family from upstate New York, including their kids, relatives and a foster child. I watched it expecting something different, maybe dramatic, possibly something new.

I was disappointed, because this isn't particularly dramatic, different or new. That's not the fault of the film or the makers; they present an honest portrayal of a family that could be next door to you. The grandparents are the kind of people that everyone knows, hardworking and honest folks who are doing the best they can in troubled times.

The relatives and children are a bunch of screw ups from what I could see, just like you will find in any family. A welfare mother who can't take care of her child and won't do much about it. An Aunt who collects a disability check and thinks she's a witch. A foster child who steals everything in sight and refuses to take responsibility. Could be my family, could be yours. There is no particular conclusion reached, or point made, but they do cover the lives of the Mosher family in some depth.

So, you're not going to see anything you haven't seen before, but you will see an accurate and honest documentary about the kind of people who live near you. If that's what you're looking for, it's a watchable film with decent production values.