This is a comprehensive and intimate view of small town America. It is both sad and uplifting at the same time. Tales of family trauma, murder, Manson, a dwindling economy, and more. The cinematography is beautiful. The portraits of the residents are fulfilling and honest. One reviewer commented it was boring and thought it could be improved with narration, however I disagree. The on-screen blurbs provided more than enough context and contributed to the overall somber tone in a respectful way. I think a narrator would have felt condescending or judgmental ... this film does a great job skirting that potential issue.
Another reviewer commented that all the residents are depressing, filthy and living on welfare. They are just wrong. There is one job in town and the postmaster is grateful to have it. Many to most are senior citizens of retirement age so what would you expect them to live on but their well-earned social security? One woman created a library for the town and another an outdoor art museum. There is a small artist community with "summer music camp for adults," and so much more. The residents mostly seem very different from one another yet they are respectful of those differences and even get together for American ways of life such as the Fourth of July. A younger couple moved from Sacramento recover from trauma and by the end have rebuilt themselves enough to move out of town to "get off disability." The reviewer must not have an empathetic bone in their body and been fortunate enough to never experience illness themselves because being clean does have a cost (physical work is not possible for all even those who appear well; invisible illness is real) and where they live in the unforgiving desert where the closest services are 40 miles away, it is not easy to maintain a perfect home. In addition many of the homes looked no different than my friends and colleagues, or much better. Just because someone lives differently from you doesn't make it bad. The man who has no running water by choice says he feels like he is racking bad karma for every gallon of gas he burns so he's made a conscious effort to consume less. I see that as admirable and if the rest of us made a 1/10th the effort, the world would be a better place.
Having lived and worked within the same general region at one point in my life, along with my husband who worked just over the hill from this community in the similarly dilapidated and dwindling town of Keeler (pop 50, or less), I can say that this is an accurate and thoughtful portrayal of life in many of the small towns of the Mojave Desert in Inyo and Kern Counties. I loved this film, which I happened to stumble upon by accident on Amazon Prime. ten stars.