Winter’s Bone

Upon learning her missing father has put their home and land up for bond, a teen sets out on a dangerous quest to find him. At the center of the action is 17 year old Ree Dolly played by actress Jennifer Lawrence. “Forced to grow up fast” situation has her in charge of two young siblings and an incapacitated mother.  The determination to locate her father is born out of necessity and becomes a compelling as well as heartbreaking mission. If not for Ree’s hopeful spirit, the film would have been too oppressively bleak to handle. Set in the Ozarks, the story involves present day methamphetamine production and its impact on families on the plateau. Her fearless confrontation of the local hardcore criminal network is a harrowing journey. Fascinating portrait gives a frightening glimpse into a community we rarely see in contemporary society. A woman driven to hard choices by hard circumstances is thematically similar to 2008’s Frozen River where the style, tone, class of characters and protagonist are very much alike. Coincidentally, both films won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in their respective years.