(2010)
directed by Debra Granik
To the extent possible, death is hidden in America. Unless you are unfortunate enough to happen upon a car crash that has just occurred, death is more a concept than something you can see or touch or smell. The extraordinary “Winter’s Bone” inhabits a very different world. In “Winter’s Bone,” death is very real and very physical.
Ree Dolly is only seventeen yet she is solely responsible for her younger brother and sister. Her father, who was jailed for cooking meth, has disappeared and her mother sits silent all day in a deep depression. As played by Jennifer Lawrence, Ree is watchful, quiet, and still. She instantly commands our respect. “Don’t ask for what ought to be offered,” she tells her little brother. She believes that people will do the right thing if offered the chance. As events unfold, we soon realize that she is also incredibly courageous.
The local sheriff shows up and informs Ree that her father posted the family home as bail and that if he doesn’t show up for next week’s court date the family will lose their home. “I’ll find him,” Ree tells the sheriff quietly and firmly. Ree’s search for her father is in the ancient form of an odyssey. Ree’s odyssey is full of unknown adversaries and dangerous obstacles.
The film is set in the present day Ozark Mountains of Missouri, but the landscape looks like Walker Evans’ depression era photographs. Discarded possessions pile up around people’s homes. The junked cars and televisions seem like relics of an earlier time. In this unforgiving world, everyone is a criminal, depends on a criminal, or exploits criminals. They are vulnerable to informers. They are understandably suspicious. Outsiders are always suspect, but in this world even insiders and family members are suspect.
“Aren’t we all supposed to be kin?” Ree asks as she makes her way through the backwoods from house to house, demanding information. In one of the eeriest scenes in the film, one of the people that Ree has gone to for information takes her to a burned-out crank house where a secret drug factory blew up. Supposedly, this is where Ree’s father met his end. The blackened ruin scars the land. It is a heartbreaking testament to a community that has lost all hope.
Ree’s search slowly takes her nearer and nearer to prying out the truth. The person to whom she must ultimately submit her request is a kingpin called Little Arthur. Little Arthur is a terrifying figure who is not to be messed with under any circumstances. “Winter’s Bone” slowly builds to a horrifying conclusion featuring a chainsaw and a visit to a quiet moonlit lake.