Do tight-knit towns like this really exist?
I found it rather unbelievable that the majority of the town would go along with Lars' "condition" with Bianca.
shareSmall towns tend to be tight-knit (or lacking of privacy...either way) because everyone pretty much knows everyone else. I think the way the town rallied around Lars was more believable in that setting than if the story took place in a large urban area.
Lars, despite his odd behaviour, was a well-known, loved and contributing member of the community. People actively reached out to connect with him (e.g. co-worker inviting him to a party, bringing Bianca to "participate" with the church congregation, etc.). Acts of compassion like that really do exist--both on an individual and group level. The film showed that there were skeptics too; not everyone jumped on board in accepting Bianca as if she were alive. That discomfort with anything seen as "different" is real too.
I think one of the points of the film was to show the power of a group rallying around one of their own at his time of need (that's a good quality that we should aspire to practice in our own lives, don't you think?). It's not necessarily meant to portray reality in the strictest sense. Maybe I should ask you, "Do you yearn for a community that's tight-knit and supportive like the one portrayed in the film to exist (especially if you were someone like Lars)?".