A somber meditation on racism and family pathology, anchored by solid performances. Aging patriarch Buck Grotowski (Peter Boyle) has left his middle-aged son Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) and Hank's son Sonny (Heath Ledger) two legacies: loyalty to the Georgia Department of Corrections and racism. Now Buck, crippled by emphysema, is bitterly dependent on Hank for his day-to-day needs, while Sonny, who's recently joined Hank's death-row team, refuses to embrace the entrenched prejudices of his hard, rancorous family. Sonny is friendly with Ryrus Cooper (Mos Def), the African-American neighbor Buck and Hank deride, and has formed a quietly intense bond with condemned inmat...
Released:
2001
Rated:
R
Length:
108 mins