"A Boy's Life", Rory Kennedy's portrait of Robert, a young boy (7) growing up in abject poverty in Northern Mississippi, was difficult to watch.
Difficult to watch only because of the treatment that Robert received at the hand of his Grandmother. Numerous instances of the child being emotionally decimated by his "mamaw" raised red flags of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. Regardless of the impetus of the mistreatment, the film captured an upsetting family dynamic as orchestrated by the matriarch. The film was effective in its crafting layers of complexity of the relationships between Robert, his brother (whom was not examined by the film), the grandmother, and his mother.
There are moments in which I sensed some exploitation of this family in unenviable conditions; but it wasn't so much that it took away from the gravity and texture of the film.
I recommend this documentary but keep a tissue nearby, just in case.