\u00a0Winter\u2019s Bone<\/em>. I wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s not even talk about the chainsaw, which figures prominently at the end of the film.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s focus on Ree Dolly, the seventeen year-old girl \u201cbred and buttered\u201d among a secretive, criminal, meth-addicted community deep in the woods of the Ozark Mountains. For her, squirrel-skinning is the stuff of survival. And what she does to protect, teach, and raise her younger siblings defines her as hero of courage, tenacity, and selflessness.<\/p>\n
Adapted by co-writer and director Debra Granik from a novel by Daniel Woodrell,\u00a0Winter\u2019s Bone<\/em>\u00a0is a harrowing film. Its insular culture of brutal crooks, where women become zombie-like minions ruled by men, and men are monsters ruled by the methamphetamine they cook and snort, would seem implausible if it weren\u2019t so particular. It\u2019s the kind of shadowy wilderness that myths are made of. You half-expect to meet the Blair Witch in them there trees.<\/p>\nIn her ramshackle home, with a wary eye on her dangerous neighbors, Ree teaches her young siblings how spell \u2018HOUSE\u2019, how to do math, how to make deer stew, and other essentials of survival.<\/p>\n
Where is their mother? She\u2019s in the back room, useless, buried deep beneath layers of trauma. Their father? Jessup is missing. Jailed for meth-cooking, he got out by putting up pretty much everything for bond\u2014including the house that shelters his family.<\/p>\n
So Ree shoulders the responsibility, caring for her brother and sister with a ferocious sense of duty. Moviegoers looking for a sibling bond this powerful would have to go back to Jeff Nichols\u2019s 2007 film\u00a0Shotgun Stories<\/em>\u00a0or Hirozaku Koreeda\u2019s 2004 film\u00a0Nobody Knows<\/em>.<\/p>\nRee is hanging on by her fingernails. Jessup hasn\u2019t shown up for his court date, and she has no idea where he is. If she doesn\u2019t find him soon, the law will take the family\u2019s home, leaving the Dollys at the mercy of their cruel community. You can feel that darkness, like the devil himself, seething and laughing behind the closed doors, while Ree begs for help and for answers.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Lawrence\u2019s performance as Ree has earned quite an ovation. Many predict we\u2019re witnessing the arrival of a great actress. Perhaps.\u00a0Winter\u2019s Bone<\/em>\u00a0catches her in that fleeting stage of metamorphosis. Sometimes she\u2019s a baby-faced Girl Scout; others, she\u2019s pouty and smart, like Rene Zellweger\u2019s younger, tougher sister; and in moments of confrontation she\u2019s as fearsome as Sigourney Weaver in\u00a0Aliens<\/em>, taking on monsters to protect the small and the vulnerable.<\/p>\nStanding between Ree and the truth are the community\u2019s women. I was surprised that none of them were witches. With all of this backwoods \u201ctoil and trouble,\u201d we might expect some \u201cbubble bubble.\u201d Asking the clan queen for permission to meet the head cattleman, Ree\u2019s told \u201cHe\u2019s got no need to talk to you.\u201d Ree responds, \u201cAt least some of our blood\u2019s the same. Ain\u2019t that supposed to mean something?\u201d<\/p>\n
Apparently not.<\/p>\n
But Ree finds a scrap of conscience in Teardrop, her drug-addicted uncle. Played brilliantly by John Hawkes, Teardrop\u2019s a monster staggering between sadness and rage. When his wife asks him for information, Teardrop says \u201cShut up.\u201d When she asks again, he says, \u201cI said \u2018Shut Up\u2019 once already with my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Missouri timberland is more than a backdrop. It\u2019s a haunted, primal wilderness, and the residents seem a part of it, their voices as rugged as the gravel roads, and their faces as gnarled as the wind-blasted trees. (The adorable young actress playing Ree\u2019s youngest sibling seems picture-perfect because she actually lives in the house that serves as the stage for Ree\u2019s family.)<\/p>\n
Garret Dillahunt is smartly cast as a scornful cop. I\u2019ll bet Granik knew, when she included him, that he\u2019d be recognized for his appearances in\u00a0No Country for Old Men<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Road<\/em>, two Cormac McCarthy adaptations about humankind\u2019s devolution at the end of the world.<\/p>\nMost movies of such cultural crisis will call up a hero who can, with sharp shooting, cleverness, and bravado overcome the villains. The hero\u2019s motivations and convictions are usually forgettable\u2014the story\u2019s just an excuse for wild stunts and spectacle. Thoughtful storytelling and character development are a surprising bonus if they occur at all.<\/p>\n
But Ree\u2019s a far more human hero, distinguished by her selfless courage. Her actions are about identity, not excitement. Nothing here happens for the sake of a gratuitous thrill. Everything is rooted in Ree\u2019s love for her family.<\/p>\n
So, while commercial movies and American television have conditioned me to expect resolution through a climactic explosion of violence, or a fairy-tale deliverance (through, say, an unexpected romance from a kind-hearted lawman), I was drawn to the edge of my seat because\u00a0Winter\u2019s Bone<\/em>\u00a0is something rare\u2014a story of remarkable integrity.<\/p>\nI had no idea where it would end up.<\/p>\n
Ree\u2019s after something better than vengeance. Unlike most big-screen heroes\u2014and indeed, unlike most American storytellers\u2014she seems to know that violence will make things worse. She\u2019d rather preserve what\u2019s left of her family and strengthen the things that remain. And her last words to her siblings are as beautiful as any declaration of love I\u2019ve ever encountered in a movie.<\/p>\n
There is no clean conclusion. Grace is possible, but the devil is still on the prowl, seeking whom he may devour. Ree\u2019s victories are hard-won, few, and tenuous. Those seeking long-term hope will have to look beyond the world\u2019s dark woods.<\/p>\n
Listen to the hymn sung over the credits:
\n<\/em><\/p>\nWhen death has come and taken our loved ones,
\n<\/em>It leaves our home so lonely and drear,<\/em>
\nThen do we wonder why others prosper
\nLiving so wicked year after year\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\nFarther along we\u2019ll know all about it,
\nFarther along we\u2019ll understand why;
\nCheer up my brother, live in the sunshine,
\nWe\u2019ll understand it all by and by.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This review was originally published at Good Letters, a blog hosted by Image, in September 2010. \u2022 When was the last time you saw a big-screen hero kill, gut, and cook a squirrel? Be prepared for that if you see\u00a0Winter\u2019s Bone. I wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":94172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-film-reviews-journal"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/226\/2014\/06\/Winters-Bone.jpg\" "\\"Winter's")
<\/a>This review was originally published at Good Letters<\/a>, a blog hosted by Image<\/em>, in September 2010.<\/p>\n