Hale County This Morning, This Evening

A poetic portrait of the lives of African-Americans in the South, specifically in a county in Alabama, Hale County This Morning, This Evening is an ingenious new documentary by director RaMell Ross. Even though it depicts a series of intimate moments from a very specific environment, it still manages to have a universal appeal. It is also a film that will grow with repeated viewings. Still, these powerful images speak to us on an almost subconscious level, and hold an immense beauty and sense of meaning, be it the repetitions of a basketball training session or a little child running across a living room floor.

Although this is a singular film, it bears a certain resemblance to the films of other artists, such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand, who has been a creative advisor for RaMell Ross. Perhaps this why Hale County is the similarly meditative and poetic quality to films such as Syndromes and a Century (2006) and Tropical Malady (2004). The films of Terence Malick is another point of reference.

But you don’t need to know any of these films or filmmakers to appreciate Hale County. It feels so unique, because it catches intimate and very real events in the lives of quite ordinary people and lets us experience their lives and their memories. Which does not make the film less politically charged, or less important: It is a beautiful and often heart-wrenching mosaic of lives that are often ignored by politicians and the media.

«It’s not every day that you witness a new cinematic language being born…» – The Village Voice