Watch Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Hale County This Morning, This Evening is a 2018 documentary film directed by RaMell Ross that beautifully captures the daily lives of African Americans in rural Alabama. The film is shot in a poetic, observational style, with no traditional narrative or voice-over, allowing the viewer to simply see and experience the world of the film's subjects.

The film takes its name from the county in Alabama in which it is set. Hale County is a predominantly black and rural county in the state's Black Belt region. Through the lens of Ross's camera, we see the people of Hale County going about their daily lives - playing basketball, attending church, cooking dinner, and caring for their children. It is a world that is both familiar and foreign, at once completely recognizable but also utterly unique.

At the heart of the film are two young men, Quincy and Daniel, who Ross follows through several years of their lives. We see them grow and change, their dreams and aspirations evolving alongside them. Quincy is a basketball player whose dreams of going to college to play ball are constantly challenged by the realities of his life. Daniel is a father, working to provide for his family while also trying to find meaning and purpose in his own life.

In addition to Quincy and Daniel, we meet a number of other residents of Hale County, each with their own story to tell. We meet a young mother as she sings lullabies to her baby, and we see the quiet intimacy of this moment. We see a group of teenagers as they sit in a car, joking and laughing, the camera focused on them long enough to let us feel as if we are part of the conversation.

There is also an overarching sense of place in Hale County This Morning, This Evening. Ross is acutely aware of the history and culture of the region, and he imbues the film with a deep sense of place. We see the landscape of Hale County - the fields and rivers, the houses and churches - and we get a sense of the importance of these places in the lives of the people who live there.

The film is also a meditation on time, how it passes, and how we experience it. Ross uses slow-motion shots and long takes to allow us to linger on moments that might otherwise be missed. We see the passage of time in the changing seasons, in the growth and transformation of the people we meet.

Throughout the film, Ross's camera is both intimate and detached. He allows us to feel close to his subjects, but he also maintains a sense of distance, refusing to intrude upon their lives or offer easy answers to the questions that the film raises.

Hale County This Morning, This Evening is a stunningly beautiful film that is both raw and poetic. It captures the beauty and complexity of life in rural Alabama in a way that is rarely seen on film. Ross's camera is both intimate and objective, allowing us to see the people of Hale County in all their complexity and humanity. It is an important film that offers a window into a world that is often overlooked or neglected, and it does so with grace and empathy.

Hale County This Morning, This Evening is a 2018 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 16 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.4 and a MetaScore of 85.