The film, October Country, follows the Mosher family for a year and focuses specifically on the social problems faced by the family members. The family consists of a grandfather, Donald, grandmother, Dottie, their daughter, Donna, the older granddaughter, Danael, who has a toddler, Ruby, and the younger granddaughter, Desiree. Also, appearing in the film is Donald's sister, Denise, Donald's and Dottie's foster child, Chris, and Danael's boyfriend, Johny. The film presents several social problems affecting the family, among those are misery, dysfunction, and most importantly, the "vicious cycle" of domestic violence. Despite Mosher's misery, they managed to avoid treating it with drugs or alcohol, however, all of the adult family members are …show more content…
Her first husband, Danael's father, was abusive and is in jail. She keeps getting involved with the same type of men, abusive mentally and physically. While her bruises healed, her physiological scars are not going away. David, the father of her younger daughter, Desiree, appeared to be a good guy until he sexually molested one of the daughters and is currently in jail. Also, Donna holds a job at a local factory where workers do not get paid allot neither in wages nor bonuses. She is scared of what might happen to her and others in the community if the factory closes or moves its productions overseas. Donna appears to have her father's hardness, presenting with little sensitivity to others except to her granddaughter, Ruby. Her youngest, Desiree, claims that she is smarter than the other women in the family and that she will lead a different life. She talks about her mother and sister having a bad taste in men. Desiree is seen playing violent video games and appears to have some anger outburst. (Single parenting, Teenage Pregnancy, Poverty, Minimum wage, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault/child molestation, …show more content…
She seeks her father's approval, despite him abusing and cheating on her mother, doing drugs, and drinking. She denies that her father did those things and that he only reaches out when he needs money. She feels that no matter what she does, she will never be good enough for him. Danael followed her mother's footsteps and got pregnant in her teens. She married the baby's father, Tony, who was abusive to her even when she was pregnant with their daughter, Ruby. At some point in the abusive relationship, Danael got a restraining order from Tony and, at the time the documentary began filming, they were in a custody battle for Ruby. It is worth mentioning that her mother also fought for custody after divorcing her father. Danael is on government assistance and is afraid she will lose Ruby. Her mother is willing to take in Ruby, but does not appear to be enthusiastic about it. She cannot afford much for Ruby and says that she lets her grandparents get Ruby gifts. The film shows Daniel's and Ruby's living conditions with mountains of dirty dishes everywhere, even a moldy baby bottle in the bathroom. Sometime into filming, Danael is living with her new boyfriend, Johny. Danael doesn't express that Johny is abusive, but they are seen fighting and hitting each other. Also, Johny is not letting Danael to get a job despite them barely getting by. He claims that these are the values he was raised with and appears to be