Wonderfully written. I admit I have never watched the whole film. I probably would have shied away from it when I was younger for some of the reasons you list here, the idea of a dead end town might have depressed me/gone over my head. Not that I didn't think I was deep but as you infer much of that is a facade at that age lol. I think it's good you push your students to watch things they might not "get" now, but something of it might stick with them and they will revisit it in years to come. It sounds like it resonated deeply with some of your hometown experience and I am sure that makes you a good teacher to explain it.