This movie hit very close to home. The acting and the situations portrayed were very accurate to what I've seen in my own community. The "breaking away" aspect the Mr. Vance went through was the way out many of us took in order to succeed and reach our potential. The critics of this movie all seem to be parroting the same phrases and points of view from the previous reviews/reviewers. Many actually betray their bias by refusing to admit that many people can pull themselves UP and OUT by their bootstraps....but that isn't the message most leftist reviewers want the masses to realize. They want the government to have control of the people, not the people to control their own destiny.