Hale County This Morning, This Evening

"Hale County" feels like less like a movie that was made than a dream that has welled up in the subconscious of a nation unwilling to see it, rendered so beautiful that it's impossible to look away.

RaMell Ross's remarkable debut feature is as much an experimental film as it is a documentary, and it succeeds smashingly on both fronts.

At the same time that Hale County's collage style helps the film avoid becoming a Southern variation on Hoop Dreams, it refuses to lapse into anything resembling hand-wringing melancholy.

I respect Ross’s ambition and general project more than a brainwave readout of moment-to-moment reactions would indicate.