This film, seeming so simple on the surface, was a profound study of how people's lives are affected by judgment and rejection. Two families of sons, same father, different mothers, have spent their respective lives "knowing" that they belonged either to the favored family or to the rejected family. The reason that one family was so bitterly rejected is never really known, and it doesn't need to be explained. The movie is about the effect this has had on the self-worth of the characters. Who can say how one group can be judged as worthy, and the other as unworthy? As American as this story is, it made me think of the Middle East conflict, where sons of different mothers are fighting and killing each other. It was so telling how the older sons had names that weren't even really names, merely descriptions, while the younger sons had actual names as though they were the true human beings. I found the ending to be hopeful, and I appreciated how the child who sat on the porch with his dad and uncle DID have a real person's name, yet was at once "boy, kid, son."<br /><br />I viewed this film at the Palm Springs Film Festival, where many audience members came up to the director afterward to say, "I'm not from Arkansas, but I know these people." I loved the air conditioner scene, the inspiration for which Mr. Nichols said he actually witnessed in real life.<br /><br />I see that this is scheduled for limited US release on Mar 26. I hope a lot of people get a chance to see it.