Review of Gummo

Gummo (1997)
7/10
Disturbed me in 1998, but I grew to respect its' ugliness...?
6 September 2009
This disturbing, semi-documentary styled film kind of freaked me out when I first saw it (high, in 1998) but years later, I have now seen it in a different light. I still hate the crazy 'real' resident rednecks who talk smack about killing themselves, sticking firecrackers into the butts of cats and breaking up chairs in silly, childish tantrums; but with the 2 main characters, who seemed to be 'actors' as opposed to 'local talent', I didn't feel as repulsed any more. Nor by Cloe Svigny or even Max Perlic.

These are Actors, playing sick & twisted characters, to be sure, but none of them were as disturbing as the other Xenia residents that were a shining example of the ugly underbelly of white trash society.

I don't want to denigrate anyone, but those people really did give 'Southern whites' a bad image, in my opinion, kind of like the way ghetto trash makes people feel about other poor black people. I guess I just saw the honesty & accuracy of the way the film pictured these people. It would be great to see if anyone would ever have the nerve to show the inner-city ghettos showed in a similar, ugly way? I'd hate to think that the only 'trash' out there in America is rural, white and Southern!
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