Your Summer FRONTLINE Viewing List: Film 5

We know there’s always a bunch of FRONTLINE films you meant to see, but somehow missed. Where to start catching up?

We went back through our archives to find the five films that resonated most with viewers this season. We looked at why you watched, what you liked and what you said about them. We’ll post one film every day this week — in no particular order.

Here’s number 5.

Two American Families

For the past 20 years, veteran correspondent Bill Moyers followed two ordinary American families, one black and one white, who were working hard to build a better life for their families.

The result was a moving portrait of the Stanleys and the Neumanns who, despite their best efforts, struggled to stay out of poverty in Milwaukee, Wis., a town that once flourished, but has crumbled in the wake of the manufacturing boom.

Many viewers saw a bit of themselves in the families. To others, it proved that the American dream has died — if it ever existed at all. “I have an ache in my chest,” Zac Walker tweeted. “This should never be happening in this country.”

Watch the film below, and then find out where the two families are now.