Farmingville

Illuminating and alarming.

Offers only the smallest glimmer of hope that the two sides can work things out through ingenuity and compromise.

Hate crimes, racial tensions, economic strife, illegal immigration, and the preservation of white neighborhoods are familiar issues in this nation, but the crux of the documentary Farmingville is where these issues play out.

Though it has the slight, informal feel of a made-for-television documentary shot on video, Farmingville is an unusually sensitive and sophisticated piece of investigative journalism.

Tambini and Sandoval lived in the community for a year and present the story with great immediacy. The film could have benefited from some deeper analysis of why these people feel their way of life is so threatened.

Authentic ethical dialogue is conspicuous for its absence, as is the potentially disturbing view of a normal, working-class corner of American society going not-so-quietly cuckoo.

Sincere but unexceptional.