Kudos to the filmmakers who produced such a fine film. The story of Josh Osborne and his girlfriend was headline news in the small, rural Maine town of Farmington. The film captures the hardscrabble life of a young man devoted to his animals and his land only to be nearly destroyed by the women he trusted---his girlfriend and his mother. Josh Osborne left school after sixth grade to work on his family's dairy farm. After his mother deserts the family and moves to Colorado (and after the death of his father) the ownership of the farm becomes a matter of dispute between young Osborne and his mother, Janette. After being promised that the farm would be his, Josh learns that the farm is being sold to a developer. Shots are fired, Janette is wounded, and Josh and his girlfriend are arrested for attempted murder. Both eventually serve time on lesser charges, in spite of the fact that members of the community are in sympathy with the actions of the pair.While critics have called this a dark comedy, it truly is more dark than comedic. One could hardly ask for a more accurate and intriguing study of the sociology and psychology of a family (and the surrounding rural area) whose crisis is never fully resolved. The film accurately portrays the crossroads in rural Maine where those greedy to develop Maine's vast land resources battle constantly with those who have held and worked the land for generations and who are desperate to swim against the flood tide of developers. The film presents a very different and disturbing portrait of the state to those who spend time vacationing on Maine's coast. No prettiness or touristy window-dressing---just hard facts and raw emotion.
