This is a screen adaptation of the novel by Russell Banks, a book which, in my not-so-humble opinion, is one of the greatest works of English language fiction from the last 50 years. The story is harrowing and unbearably poignant, with all the inevitablity of Greek Tragedy, and it reminds you, because of this, of the plays of Arthur Miller, who knew a deeply-flawed main protagonist when he saw one. The two main performances, Nolte and Coburn, are superb, the former as a man struggling and failing not to become his father, the latter fully deserving his belated Oscar, but I suppose Dafoe is a bit wasted as the quieter brother who got away, and who narrates the story . A fine film, catch it.