A powerful and moving portrait of the horrors of poverty, abuse, and neglect that also offers compelling insight into the divided views of how race should be portrayed. The film makes no bones about its abject representation of the lowest rungs of inner-city poverty, and detractors argue that it is a freakshow that either strokes the egos of concerned white liberals or simply exploits its controversial subject matter. This strikes me as a willful overgeneralization of the film’s aims, and while it does have its faults, they are not enough to undermine its socially charged convictions or otherwise dilute the power of its images and ideas. (Starplex 16, Waco, TX)