Toney Biegalski
This is a wonderful study of the face of evil and its impact upon the lives of its characters. The narrative is nonlinear and may be confusing at first if one is not warned, but once a viewer is aware of this he/she should have no difficulty understanding the film. The storyline is initially split and follows two seemingly unrelated characters, which are somehow (at first we don't know) linked through a third subplot involving a small-town sheriff and some crime which has yet to be revealed. One storyline involves a teenage boy who has experienced the worst type of loss and is now emotionally alone in the world. And there is a small-town waitress who has established a relationship with an ex- con over years in a pen-pal program. The waitress has a glass-eye which is a symbolic reference to the movie's title. This glass-eye exists in the world of the inanimate, and the scenes of human despair and sorrow are reflected in and across it without judgment, action, or recourse, as the Eye of God viewing this world exists totally separated of its theater. At the film's end we are reminded of the story of Abraham and Isaac and that the actions of any Judeo-Christian god are very seldom held up to the same standards to which he holds his people. This movie took my breath away and haunted me for days after I initially saw it. It's memory still haunts me.
Havan_IronOak
This film seems to have received mixed reviews and it does have a simple storyline when told in chronological fashion. Here the chronology is deliberately set askew to allow the facts of the story to unfold at a slower, more thought provoking pace. We read about similar tragedies all too often and never seem to give them the importance that they deserve. This picture attempts to correct some of that. If you really disliked this film see No One Would Tell (1996) (TV) http://us.imdb.com/Details?0117191 which tells a somewhat similar story in the normal chronology and then ask yourself, "Which was more effective"Overall, I'd recommend this film to those that care more more about character development than plot points.
awalter1
Jack is released from prison and meets up with Ainsley, a young woman he has been writing letters to for quite some time. Ainsley is a sweet romantic simpleton who doesn't even want to know about the crime that put him in prison. Jack believes that he has been reformed by the justice system and by religion, but he's also a control freak. For strange reasons lost in the mysteries of the human heart, these poor souls decide to start a relationship.One can't give away too much of the plot without collapsing the nonlineary framework of the film and ruining its breathtaking effect. So suffice it to say that this recipe for disaster is tossed up in the air along with the biblical story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and with all the theological and ethical problems both of these stories present. Everything builds to a whirling climax of nonlinear convergence and small-scale horror. In the end the audience is brought face-to-face with that grand philosophical theme "the problem of evil," and we find no easy solutions.
ant bee
I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, I understood completely the feeling of the place, the time, the people. So many people think that life is simple in a small town, but it is not...all the dark secrets are there, all the illness that everyone attributes to living in large cities is also there.I couldn't take my eyes off the screen while I was watching this movie. Sometimes a film does come along that is everything a film is supposed to be.If you haven't yet seen this film, please make an effort to watch it, it will be well worth your time.