What was 'so moving' about this film?

the irony of misspelling ignorance aside, i think anyone growing up in a dysfunctional house, living in areas where peoples lives go nowhere fast can relate to this. the urge to break free, feeling trapped in your own community, in your own home. i thought the movie did a great job of portraying the sadness, the struggle, the anger, and the helplessness of these peoples lives. that line about Laurie still being on "her corner" afer all these years always breaks my heart. very rarely have i seen characters as real as these, or relationships as developed as this put on screen.

Each person's experience is different. Dito's experience, whether good or bad, were his experiences. His experiences, like everyone's, effect his own life and those from his childhood. Going back to that is hard. Imagine going back to your teenage years. I mean, if you're older than a teenager.

Life is a struggle, and there are good times and bad.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to say but this: a life is unique and emotional, and everyone has one.

You seem to be looking for an intentional message or a moral to the story, so I think you're looking for something that Dito (writer / director) never had in mind. The movie is simply presenting the fact that many people are born into difficult and sometimes miserable conditions and different people will deal with that differently. I think Dito just wanted to tell the truth and hopefully have other people be moved by the reality of it. Your style here seems to be one of only judging the characters behavior and coming to a conclusion about how they should have responded to their conditions. With that approach, a movie is only successful if it reflects your personal values or style. This kind of movie is not looking for empathy, it's just telling the truth about how things are for some people in an entertaining way.

It moved me because I could relate with the main character. I left everyone and everything and moved to another country to be too far away to be reached. I wish I had the guts to cut the relationships also but I don't want to be that cruel.. Though in my heart those relationships are over, I don't feel much for those people... just keeping in touch for them... They are not leaving me though I left them...
I have a complicated relationship with my father... I think Dito was wrong, he had a good father... At least his father was talking to him and could tell him how he feels about him.. Also I would like if my father would be such a great person to support a boy (Antonio) who has no one to tell him they love him... That was an unnecessary jealousy from Dito's side...

My father doesn't talk to me much... Almost not talking with me :( I don't know what he thinks or feels about me and that's killing me... I wrote him a letter telling him that I love him and he is the best for me but got no answer and so I thought I guess my letter was really stupid and now I feel stupid... Anyway...

Dito could leave those streets but it was unnecessary to leave his parents... They were good people...

"In the end - just like I said - I left everything, and everyone. But no one, no one has ever left me."
This made me shed a tear and stare into space for a while. I guess it reminded me of what I was doing at that time in my life.

I don't believe this movie is for everyone, and maybe not overall as moving as it was for me.
But to see actors go all out and burn through the screen itself is moving. Plus I like the way it was shot. It seemed real and stood out from all the other Hollywood crap. This is true emotion and my opinion won't ever change.
This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It's quite a long list, but it's there none the less.

Furthermore Robert Downey Jr. has always hit a chord with me and this movie opened my eyes to Shia LaBeouf and Channing Tatum being some of the candidates for next generation's line of fantastic actors.
Built around them are great great unknowns to me, but they delivered a damn fine job, and the force of the characters are astonishing.

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"Now you got some real tears going.
That's the stuff accolades are made of."

[deleted]

I wasn't moved at all by this movie, neither. "Oh my, those guys grown up in poor neighbourhood, it's so touching, I might cry over this moving coming of age movie!" - except not. It was boring, unoriginal, and I did not care about the characters. I couldn't wait for it to finish. Such a waste of Robert and Shia. Very overrated movie.

Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too)

Movies are subjective. I have friends that I know would not like this movie or get this movie. It would like the kids in this movie watching a movie about the stress and pressure college kids have competing for spots on the cricket team. They would not get it or relate in any way.

Some movies can bridge the gap but it is rare.

I grew up in this environment and this movie made me mad,sad and happy at various times. I hated guys like Antonio but had to deal with them on a daily basis. My life now is many years removed from those days but it is still in me.