Did you notice that most of the people reviewing this and giving it a good review are hicks? Maybe if you live in a one horse town and this is the only movie to rent, then you might see it as a 5 star jem like some of these other alcoholics did. I don’t get it. I think the acting was terrible. A bunch of hillbillies that could not act. The writing is absolutely atrocious. Let me elaborate: many, MANY times in the movie you will find your self saying “Why didn’t she do `this’ or do `that” or “Oh come on, no one would do that.” Its just to unrealistic, to the point its ridiculous. Here is the girl getting the crap beat out of her, and she has several opportunities to bash husband, and turn the tables on him. She has so many opportunities to get back at him, and to even lock him away in jail. So we have the “Im just a victim, beat the crap out of me” main character. The story gets more ridiculous as the girl start to form a relation ship with a man she is physically repulsed by, instead of the guy she originally had the hots for. Finally, it was boring! It’s a half hour movie at best dragged out into a full length movie. SO, all you `billy bobs’ out there, feel free to grab a copy of this garbage and take your shots of JD and enjoy. To everyone else, if your looking for a half way decent domestic violence movie, I would stay with movies like `Enough’ and `Sleeping with the enemy’ or just go rent some old Fara Foset movies. She always liked getting the crap kicked out of her. I gave it an extra star, because, there is actually worse movies.

I gotta say this movie is an example of a terrible idea, Swain husband beats the crap outta her and she spends her time running from him. What’s worse his friend is a lunatic who want swain’s character. Swain’s Character is a hillbilly who like’s an upper class doctor who she really never connects with, I never really got why Swain settled for a lunatic when she was trying to find inner peace thru the whole movie. This movie puts a bad taste in my mouth, it was a waste of my time it wasnt a story it was an excuse to make a bad movie. (Do not buy)

I rented this one because of Dominique Swain, I kept watching it because of Dominique Swain, but I ended up enjoying it because of the 2nd half of the movie. What starts off as a “burning bed” flick set in the Louisiana swamps ends up as a compelling drama in which three main characters undergo a life-changing transformation. Swain fans may be disappointed that she spends the entire film covered in grime & most of it wearing an eye patch. Once the abusive husband issue is resolved halfway through, the movie really comes into its own. The ending is very satisfying as the two main characters realize that they are irresistibly connected in a most profound way. Director Zev Berman does a great job.