Surely one of the best human dramas of the last few years, Peter Fonda is great as Ulee Jackson, a deeply wounded but incredibly strong man who by sheer strength of will reaches out to drag back together a shattered family. His performance is a masterpiece of understatement; we can almost physically sense the roiling depths of anger and resentment that lie below his cold, almost imperturbable exterior. The crime subplot never takes precedence over the gripping family drama that is the movie's core. It is wonderful to see the various characters gradually becoming re-integrated into a functioning family; i.e. The daughter's appearing late at night in the work area to help Ulee, whose restrictions up to then she has mightily resented, with his backbreaking work.
Few have commented on the double entendre of the movie's title. Ulee's "Gold" is, on its surface, the honey he works to produce. At the film's conclusion we see that "Gold" might also refer to the long-lost money that is at the crime subplot's core. In actuality, we could have a TRIPLE entendre in that we can see that the real "Gold" might actually refer to the family he has brought together again.
