Review of the film Winter's Bone

 A rural sheriff arrives. He explains the situation slowly and does not elaborate. A 17 year old girl listens; she already knows what she has to do. Behind her is the backwoods cabin she lives in with her two younger siblings and catatonic mother. She takes care of them, makes sure they are provided for and healthy, and the weight of that responsibility leans on her shoulders as she faces the sheriff. “I’ll find him,” she says in a quiet but certain manner.

This scene begins the Debra Granik directed film Winter’s Bone. The person that the 17 year old girl, Ree, must find is her father. He has disappeared and, having put the house up as collateral for bond, he must be found. If he is not, Ree and her family will be turned out of their home and surely separated. Her father was a meth cooker; his whereabouts have been unknown to the family for quite some time. There have been rumors that he is dead; Ree must then prove this if it is indeed true.

So a young woman sets out with unnerving persistence to find her father—whether it be a man alive or his body to substitute. Ree moves through a treacherous landscape among the meth-ravaged Ozarks territory.  This is land that is harsh in many respects—the unkind weather, the poor economy, the mistrustful and secretive nature of the people. Immediately she is marked with suspicion by those she pushes with questions. It is clear that there is a trail to follow, but it is one that all wish to keep secret. Ree continues with daring aptitude to interrogate those she suspects know her father’s present or final location. The threat of violence is overwhelming and imminent as she navigates through this mystery. It looms in the space between people’s words and right in front of their stares. It lurks in the angle at which a woman turns in the doorway or the way a man cocks the bend of his elbow. The culture of the drug trade touches everyone around, even those who want nothing to do with it.

This film gives viewers a glimpse of a world that some among us inhabit—steering aggressively around the law is the everyday nature of surviving. This reality of the drug trade has surrounded this place, but Ree strides through it with the unmovable faith that people will do the right thing if one appeals to their humanity. Director Granik is able to focus on this humanity and thus avoid the clichés that could be so easily depicted in this kind of story. The film does not look down on these characters but inhabits the landscape with them. Most importantly, it gives us an unflinching and intelligent look at a young woman who is capable and brave, a woman of integrity we are unlikely to forget.