The Dynamiter

Matthew Gordon's film is set in Mississippi at the start of a hot summer. All fourteen year old Robbie wants is a family. His mother has taken off again, and he fills the days looking after Fess, his small half brother. The longer she stays away, and the further his older brother Lucas comes dangerously back into their lives, the more Robbie begins to see that the family he has built may only be a wish. The film shows the poverty and the neglect without asking the audience for pity, and it does not load the boy with adult wisdom either. The cast is largely non-professional and local, which gives it a documentary texture. It is short, hard, and does not resolve into any easy consolation.