Beau Bridges is superb as Bill Januson, a decent, hard-working man who has been dealt two devastating blows. First, he lost his 17-year job on an assembly line in Michigan and then, his wife died of cancer. Now Bill is trying to support his two children with a part-time job at a hamburger place and forced to cope with
his family's descent into poverty. His fierce pride takes a further dent when he meets a doctor (Bruce Davidson) who wants to help the family after his daughter`s health deteriorates due to malnutrition.
The two kids in the film (Shelton Dane and Jean Malone) have big parts that they fill admirably and Frances McDormand adds a nice touch as the concerned mechanic who Robbie meets one day while skipping school. It is a very upsetting film to watch and makes you stop and relish just how lucky you are. Jeff Bridges also has a brief cameo as a surgeon.
The credits end with the following caption:
On any given night, up to 5 million children in America go to bed hungry.
How many of us will wake up in the morning and think about solutions?
November 30, 2011
