I started watching this film just to see how realistic the story was as I am particularly interested in films based on true stories. At first the story was quite predictable with a man who had served time for rape coming to settle in a small town because his brother was there. Once people came to know his background, it took very little time before things got complex and very unpleasant.
Soon I realised the story was as much about his parole officer and her doubts about him as it was about his own struggle. I began to get more interested when he attended a counselling group and I got some insight into how such groups were run--it was quite confrontational. My impression of this story is it could have been written by someone familiar with the challenges of being a parole officer, especially in a small town. As such I found it quite interesting and realistic.