I bought this DVD several years ago when it was released in my country of Finland Suomi in 2004. I bought it by mistake believing I had bought a different film. I was going to return the DVD but I decided to watch first and I fell in love with this film. This is one of the first of Jeremy Sisto I ever saw, even though at the time of purchase I was actually more fond of Eric Michael Cole. I have seen Mr. Cole in movies of America and admire his work, such as Gia starring Angelina Jolie before she became a very famous star.
I fell in love with Trash due to its tenderness portrait of two young boys in Florida, United States. The boys are living in poor conditions and struggling in school. One day as they are hunting in the woods with friends, one of the friends is shot to death by mistake of a younger child in the woods. It is a terrible event, and very violent and graphic. You literally see the head of boy being blown open. This is why the movie is unrated in USA.
But the violent shooting is there to drive home how senseless the death of this boy is. His friends Anthony (played by Cole) and Sonny (played by Jeremy Sisto) are deeply affected of this accident and death, and even though they do not speak about it often, it is with them over the course of the film.
Anthony is a quiet boy with a talent of writing stories about himself and his friends. One day, a teacher in his school discovers the talent, and Anthony wins a writing prize. The teachers try to encourage Anthony that he should go on to college and have ambitions for his life, but Anthony is still deeply disturbed of the recent death of his friend.
He is also becoming more worried of Sonny, who is more disturbed and dealing with too many issues in his home: no food, no clothes, his mother mean to him and his father spending all of the money for drugs. The father is beating Sonny too, for giving money (of Sonny's own job) to his sister and her children, because father wants that money for his drugs. I really wanted to murder Sonny's father! A no good worthless man.
What a touching yet profoundly sad story, due to the friendship of Anthony and Sonny. They are the support system. Anthony must be emotionally strong and guiding for Sonny, being the stronger one emotionally. In contrast, Sonny protects Anthony when bullies torment him in school. Sonny being the stronger one physically because he had to learn to fight his father. By and by in the weeks after their friend's death, the boys meet a couple of wealthy pretty girls. C.J. (played by Jamie Pressly) is of a kind and generous heart, and she becomes Anthony's girlfriend. He doesn't understand why she likes him, until she reveals she is not unlike him in her origins. Alex (played by Marisa Ryan) is not as nice or kind as C.J., and I found it very interesting when Sonny seemed to be admiring C.J. from afar. He also befriends with her little brother who was born with Down's Syndrome. This friendship was touching and sweet.
Sonny is a study in complexities and contradictions. In some situations, he is so disturbed that he behaves atrociously, stealing cars, drinking and driving and destroying property, and in one disturbing scene, terrorizing a woman with a gun. How can this same young boy be so kind to a disabled child and to his sister's babies? It's hard to imagine, and yet looking at Sonny's parents, it's not so hard at all. There is such anger inside of him that suddenly erupts. Deep inside, the real Sonny is a good and kind person, but violence has shaped a side to him that is shown in those violent awful crimes.
That is the essence of humanity, goodness and badness. Grayness, not black or white. I heard Natalie Portman say in another movie, "We all have evil in us and we all have good." At the sad ending of this film, Sonny says the same thing. It is difficult for me to watch the end of this film. Sometimes I have to just turn it off and leave Sonny at a scene where he is in jail, but at least still living. Either way, he comes to a sad end to his difficult life. The only consolation is that his life lives on in Anthony's stories, and in this film. The director is a friend of the boy who is Sonny of this film.
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Warning: Do not read if you have not seen this film. There are spoilers about the end!
