I DVR'd this and watched this morning. This is a heartbreaking story, Mark Ruffalo is wonderful in it. I haven't read the book, but the mother doesn't want to speak about Thomas and Dominick's father, I'm thinking she got pregnant through incest or rape. Poor Dominick has his hands full with Thomas. I never understand how a woman stays with an abusive man if she has children and they are abusive to the children. Your first role as a mother is to protect your children, I know getting out of an abusive situation is difficult but for the sake of your children you must.