Knee Deep tells the story of
Josh Osborne, who has put his entire life into the family farm. Not just philosophically – he stopped school after 6th grade, he’s never taken a vacation, he has never been to a doctor. So after his Father dies he is shocked that his Mother wants to sell the farm and move on. With a cooperative girlfriend and friends with suggestions, he considers killing his Mother and taking the farm back. Odd thing is, much of the local community supports the idea. Even odder – someone does try to kill her. Now Josh is in the middle of a huge court case to figure out if he really did it.
Here’s the real kicker for the mystery film:
Knee Deep is a documentary, not fiction. Balancing honest, first person interviews with Josh and everyone involved (except the Mother), director
Michael Chandler tells the incredible story with an unobtrusive style. All the viewpoints are presented, and although the hard-to-believe facts are occasionally shown with some humor, each person is treated as a human being.
It’s just that the story is so incredible at points. Josh's girlfriend fell for him when she is 4 months pregnant with someone else's baby. Josh admits all along that he wants to kill his Mother, and most people support him. Yet someone else might have shot her. When the Mother shows up during the court case she sends it in a whole new direction.
Director Chandler also wrote and edited the Academy Award-nominated
Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter’s Journey, the Emmy Award-winning
Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven, and directed episodes of PBS’
Frontline.
Knee Deep is as entertaining as any film noir, equal parts humorous and humanistic. It captures family pride and commitments as well as the crime story.
Errol Morris and
Herzog would be big fans.
DVD available from the official website,
www.kneedeepthedoc.com for $24.95.
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# posted by Mike Plante @ 7/09/2008 08:48:00 PM
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